From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Your attention hasn't collapsed, it's been stolen from you by big forces. Once we understand those forces, we can begin to build meaningful solutions.
It's ironic. You would assume that when you go in to compete in a sport like mixed martial arts, you'd want to wind yourself up, get angry, get mad, and get fired up... When you're angry, you're in a frantic state of mind, you are not the best version of yourself. When you're fighting the very best martial artists on the planet, you cannot react out of emotion. You have to be cool, calm, collected and in the moment.
No one man can, for any considerable time, wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which is the true one.
When a coach gains the player's confidence and establishes a strong partnership, they can effectively motivate the player, boost their confidence, and help them break through barriers. This can elevate a player's career to new heights.
I think this is something that would have been a lot less controversial just a few decades ago, when people still remembered that, yes, the material side of war is obviously important, but it's only ever one aspect of it. And so, I'd say the big difference here is that we have to recognise that if we ignore or downplay the human side, we could lose.
Everyone has a little bit of warrior in them. We all grow up and have a little piece of us which wants to be a superhero, who goes and fights the bad guys. In real life, fighting is tough, you have to overcome your fears – nobody really wants to get into a fight! Escaping that fear is the reason so many people who get into combat sports.
We have been interested in celebrities since the dawn of time. Jesus was the first celebrity, then the royal families.... It's human nature to be interested in the captain of the football team, the head cheerleader or who is doing what with who. It's human nature to be curious about those we perceive to be in elevated positions; not necessarily positions of power.
Some of the most valuable lessons are not from seeing how they've dealt with success, but how they've dealt with failure and come back stronger and more determined to succeed.
Resilience is the responsibility and opportunity of the community.
Our senses allow us to perceive, but they're incredibly limited. Science sees far beyond our human blind spots, and the reaches of this 'bubble' our senses create for us. When you're in a bubble, you inhabit a form of fictional reality, and we've seen the dangerous consequences of this in financial bubbles, stock market bubbles, real estate bubbles… If you're not paying attention reality comes crashing in.
One of my Zen mentors authored a book entitled 'Ending the Pursuit of Happiness'. He criticises the concept of chasing happiness as a curative fantasy – the mistaken belief that happiness is an attainable, sustainable, and permanent state. No one is in a state of perpetual happiness.
ISIS and Al Qaeda don't radicalise anybody, what they do is tip people over the edge. The online phenomenon just speeds it up.