From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I genuinely believe that if music comes from your heart and soul, that people will hear that and will be able to connect with the truth of it. For a musician, that's really important- you have to be true to yourself and to the feelings you have when you make music.
Focus on activities that offer intrinsic joy regardless of the eventual outcome. By revealing in the process, without being fixated on outcomes, you become better equipped to navigate challenging situations.
There is a proverb in Hebrew that says that there used to be prophecy, but prophecy is now left for fools. I am not enthusiastic about forecasting anything.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, 'first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win…' the good news is that society is reaching a critical mass of influence meaning that today, people cannot ignore us, and cannot laugh at us, they have to fight- and if Gandhi was right, we are near the breakthrough towards winning.
The Chinese government has realised that to fuel capitalism, an atheistic, communistic, civil-religion will never propel growth. They weren't doing because they thought it was 'true' but because they were astute in knowing that you need this kind-of cultural base. Recently the Chinese government have done a major funding push for Buddhist centres and institutes around the world. They are trying to replace one philosophical narrative with another… They realise that their system, frankly, will not support the growth or creativity to create the new technologies and companies that are necessary.
You should never place your value as a human being on results. You don't control the results of the game – people get lucky or go bankrupt. Also, what happens when you achieve your result? What long-term satisfaction does that bring you?
You're basically trying to be predictive text for the ocean. You could be sitting out there – you've warmed up – you've mapped the line-up – and you've mentally prepared for where waves are going to break – you could have all that knowledge, but when you paddle out – everything could be completely different.
What is the value of asking the right question to prompt the right answer? Since it is not a narrow discipline and one with great roots in cultivating subjective experiences the integration and contribution of design is often overlooked in a silo mentality.
The efficiency trap is very modern, but it's now become a holdover from the Industrial Revolution. If you only relate to time, as if it were a certain kind of 'thing', like a natural resource… something that you could maximise, then you're going to be in a perpetual state of psychological struggle because you won't be using the right conceptual tools to live in time.
We cannot think about technology in confrontational terms. There is no race against the machines, there is no fight, no war. We have to end this long, historical confrontational narrative.
Despite being an immediate part of our existence, consciousness is potentially the most complex and elusive aspect of the universe. We haven't even begun to formulate the right questions to unravel its intricacies.
There's a beauty in the truth which is undeniable. It's a tragedy in a way- sometimes we just need to understand what the hell we've truly lost.