Nature, Aristotle once said, abhors a vacuum. He argued that a vacuum, once formed, would be filled by the dense material surrounding it. I also abhor a vacuum. Whenever I find a vacuum in my life, I fill it—no, stuff it—with the dense material surrounding it in an attempt to …
Personal Development
Unexpected hate mail
One of the most popular articles I wrote this year is The dark underbelly of meditation. The article challenges the conventional wisdom that meditation is a universal remedy for universal ills. Although meditation helps restore and maintain well-being in most people, it can also cause adverse effects, according to several …
The most dangerous form of imitation
Last week in Copenhagen, Kathy and I randomly walked into a small design studio called Studio Arhoj. It wasn’t the beautiful ceramics on display that drew me in. It was the designers who were working on the ceramics. The designers themselves were also on display. What you bought in the …
“There’s no trouble with this child”
Gillian Lynne was considered a problem child. She did terribly in school. She couldn’t sit still, let alone focus. She was so hyperactive that people would call her Wriggle Bottom. This was the 1930s in Britain, and the acronym ADHD didn’t exist. Concerned that her child had a disorder, her …