The Measure of a Man

This autobiography of Sidney Poitier is certainly worth reading. First, it sheds an interesting light on the conditions in which a black man could reach the top in the Hollywood film industry. Being raised in a poor tomato farmer environment on the Bahamas, in a simple, almost idyllic environment where everyone was poor, he hadn’t undergone the ‘conditioning’ in the back ghettos in American suburbs. In spite of the racial tensions and the underlying social injustice, he never felt inferior and could keep up a modest pride as a human being to be respected. In this way, he developed a ‘character’ of authenticity and integrity in full accordance with the actor roles the film industry needed at that time. He testifies he wasn’t that much aware of his race before he left his idyllic youth environment on the Bahamas as a young man.

The other reason why this book is worth reading resides in the title. What is the measure of a man, the author asks himself. We know we should be mild on people. Do we have the right and the capability to take the measure of a man? The author refers to his father, who repeatedly claimed the measure of a man resides in his ability to provide for his children. As his father was a poor man, he certainly must have meant provision in the material sense, but it was much more than that. It was also the education he gave and his example of a decent life in courage and integrity. Sidney Poitier sees the greatest part of his father’s legacy as the knowledge that in discipline and commitment lies hope. Nevertheless, Poitier remains realistic enough to see this will not solve all problems in society.

We tend to measure a man by his income. As a result, we live in idolatry for billionaires. The measure of a (wo)man should actually be estimated by what (s)he brings to society, not by what (s)he gets from society.

It seems like Poitier's education didn't burden him too much with status anxiety. I also refer to my Dutch blog Elitaire of egalitaire samenleving?

The Secret of Simple Sound World Economics

In this merciless world, we observe chaos, corruption, trade barriers, extortion and exploitation of the weak. We wonder if there exists any solution to the unsurmountable problems of world economics. We acknowledge there will always be shortages. There is simply not enough for everybody on this planet.

Puzzled by these questions and by feelings of guilt two thousand years ago, people asked John the Baptist what they should be doing. You would expect a very demanding list of charity related duties. The answer was astonishingly simple, minimalistic even. To the public officials, he said: “Don't ask more than what has been established for you.” To the soldiers he said: “Don't rob anyone. Don't extort or fine anyone falsely. Be satisfied with your pay.”

Especially the idea of showing satisfaction with your pay seems unworldly strange in this era of never enough. Showing satisfaction with your pay sounds like asking to be robbed.

Nevertheless: could we try this? And see where we end up in this chaos. In combination with modest generosity, this is the best simple cure for a sound world economy.

I refer to my blogs Temperance saves the World and to Economics of Good and Evil.

Picture: retable ‘The Life of John the Baptist’ from the Notre-Dame cathedral of Amiens 2019 ©Wim Lahaye

Poise, Bravery, and Hope

New Year’s resolutions usually aim at doing something, either more or less. We may intend to do more sports, eat less, smoke less, or even work less. Could we also aim at changing our attitude and state of mind to a certain extent? It may be needed in this time when everyone around us seems to be in deep despair about our future, whether it relates to work, war, immigration, climate, or the dangers of eating Christmas trees.

In this valley of tears, there is really a lot to worry about. Although there is always a slight irony in my blogs, our common tendency to be pessimistic is not totally unjustified. Our fears are triggered by the incredible rate at which everything changes. We are missing solid structures in our lives. The solid structures of religion, marriage, family, work often turn into liquids, and it sometimes looks as if we always need to restart reconstructing them like Sisyphus. It makes us extremely vulnerable. Even worse, pessimism may become self-fulfilling.

My New Year’s resolution would be to stay steadfast in the face of uncertainty. We can’t really decide never to be afraid. Fear is an emotion and usually catches us unexpectedly. We can however try to keep our poise and stay brave in the face of what is coming. The brave attitude is certainly less comfortable than the ‘run away’ or ‘blame it on the others’ attitude but it is the one which we regret the least later on. What keeps us going is the hope. The pessimists may be right but hope never dies.

Picture: pedestrian bridge in Tours, France 2019 ©Wim Lahaye

The Legacy of Dag Hammarskjöld

63 Years ago on September 18^th, 1961, UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash near Ndola in Zambia. The plane crash happened in suspicious circumstances. The TV documentary “Cold Case Hammarskjöld” sheds some light on these circumstances, but the truth remains hidden in secret circles and may never be revealed. Whatever happened, Dag Hammarskjöld is a person worth remembering because of his unwavering integrity and his willingness to do the right thing. There is no doubt about his good intentions. He surely wanted to bring peace and justice to the people of central Africa.

His legacy also includes his writings. His book Vägmärken or Markings reveals a vulnerable soul, willing to bring sacrifices for the greater good of mankind. He was a man of great spirituality.

His death was predicting the misery central Africa would go through in the years after and up until this day. May his remembrance be a stimulus for bringing peace to this part of the world.

Beatus vir qui sperat in eo – Blessed is the man who puts his hope in Him.

I also refer to my blog: Truth and Justice are not found through Alliances

Seek for Advice

Life has always been complicated. Sooner or later in their lives, all people ran into situations where they needed some kind of advice. In the old days, you could get this advice from shamans, priests, counsellors, teachers, witches or just from good friends, which was probably the best. The ancient Greeks, if they were wealthy enough, could travel to the oracle of Delphi to get some advice on what to do next.

In our society, seeking for advice looks easy but may not be that easy. A first impediment for seeking advice is our obsession with autonomy and self-reliance. Everybody is very busy appearing autonomous. Asking for advice requires a certain humility. You may need to recognise someone else for his/her specific competence. Even worse, you may discover you got it all wrong to start with. Any kind of advice, whether free or paid, may require a certain gratitude from you. Gratitude is sometimes difficult to convey.

A second impediment for seeking advice maybe the fact that we feel bombarded by advice already. In the good old days, we needed to ask for scarce information; nowadays information is abundant and thrown at us at megabytes per second. As a result, we develop a defensive attitude towards advice. We remain just as helpless as before as we now need to filter out the rare useful information from the information ocean. Therefore, we still need personal advice, more than ever.

Let us think this week on what topics we may need advice. You can't honour your fellow human being more than by asking advice. Saint Paul's advice would be “to put on the new man” or as we say in Dutch “Enrobe yourself with the new man (person)”. (‘Bekleedt u met de nieuwe mens’). Be a brand-new person. Good advice may lead us to a good life and to reinforced friendship.

I refer to my blog Dare to Expect.

Picture: Delphi, Greece, picture taken in 1991 ©Wim Lahaye

Temperance Saves the World

Temperance is a virtue which doesn’t have a prominent place in economic textbooks. Yet the word economy refers to thrift and frugality. Economy allows you to be self-reliant and to survive with little means.

Our popular culture and our company culture seems to go the opposite direction, the direction of ‘never enough’, or is it simply greed? It is much easier convincing people to do something than convincing them not to do something. The reason is the imagined group loyalty. Pleading against something may be seen as a rebellious act, a result of laziness or complacency. Pleading in favour of something big is seen as positivity, energy, and good willingness. As a result, companies do too much and have a total lack of focus. Hyperactivity and Beschleunigung have become a plague.

Temperance is exactly what companies need now. Instead of asking what they should do, it may be worth asking what they should no longer do. The question is equally important in times of scarcity of resources. Leadership is also shown through temperance.

I refer to my blog: “Economic Justification in a Culture of Scarcity”.

Picture by Curtis Yancey via Pixabay

Leadership and Subjectivity

When Moses arrived on the top of Mount Nebo in Jordan, how did he know this was the land he had announced to his people, the Promised Land? The objective truth is: he didn’t know. Perhaps the view is magnificent as we can see on the picture, but there were other people and other armies down there. It is reasonable to assume Moses got tired roaming through the desert for forty years. Otherwise, there was no objective fact indicating this was the end destination for his people.

The book of Exodus, which tells the story of Israel’s people leaving Egypt under Moses and his brother Aaron’s leadership, is a splendid manual on leadership. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t read the scriptures because they are useful. I read them because I love them. I love them because they are beautiful and because I feel like they could make me a better person. But for those of you who don’t love the scriptures, beware the book of Exodus contains all you need to know about leadership.

The Bible says Moses knew from God. But how does God speak to man? It never happens through objective reasoning. Moses didn’t have any useful objective data that would have allowed him to make a reasonably good decision. Moses knew almost nothing about the land in front of him and the strength of its armies. He needed to rely on his inner voice, through intuition, prayer, belly feeling, dreaming, sense of responsibility and love for his people, in short through his own subjectivity.

If good leadership in difficult circumstances requires subjectivity, it has a serious implication for the leader. The people need to believe him. They need to give him the authority to rely on his personal subjective feelings. They will only do this if they believe he is good, wise and integer. And this belief is usually based on some common experience in extremely bad conditions, such as the experience in the Sinai desert. If the people’s belief gets lost through some negative experience, the leader becomes extremely vulnerable. The leadership crisis we observe today, is due to a lack of common experience in the desert and a lack of willingness to grant authority to someone else, usually because of our own narcissism. The conclusion of this blog is that in leadership, subjectivity is objectively required.

I also refer to my Dutch blogs Leadership and Love and Dreamers Who Do.

Picture: Mount Nebo, Jordan, 2023 Courtesy of Patricia Deneffe

Education, Culture and Virtue

What is the purpose of education? If you gauge the zeitgeist, you think: "acquire sufficient skills to cope with global competition". That's not entirely wrong, but in "The Paradox of Ambition" we already suggested that that is not the (only) purpose of life. So there has to be more. In "The history of progress", Rutger Bregman already wrote that people did not see this as such in the past. In the past, education had to lead mainly to a virtuous life. Postmodern thinkers will suggest this was a typical vice of Christian education, where a virtuous life equalled a Christian life. But Rutger Bregman notes that original liberal thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville also pleaded for the virtuous life education. Education was to bring Culture with big C and that Culture had to elevate man to a more virtuous life. It should also not be forgotten that virtue, in a society under construction, could indeed lead to a better life, especially when you consider that zeal and perseverance (the "industria" mentioned earlier) were among those virtues. Peter Drucker also mentions integrity, the virtue par excellence, as an important quality for a manager.

But today you are no longer allowed to talk about people upliftment and if you suggest that education should promote virtue, then the contemporary correct thinkers immediately start to grumble: that cannot be true! If, on the other hand, you suggest that education should improve gender equality, combat racial discrimination, and promote respect for all diversity, then everyone will applaud you. But isn't this just virtue? And isn't this virtue linked to the great Western Culture from which we think it has some unique achievements? Everything depends on how you fill in virtue and today we emphasise other things than yesterday. But virtue is necessary for a good society and it is still the best guarantee to be able to cope with global competition. And there is more: virtue is also necessary at school to come to a good study – climate.

I also refer to my blogs: "Confucius inequality ", "Pressure on Kids",  and to "Virtues and virtutes".

Picture: Giovanni Bosco dedicates his life to education - Oud-Heverlee ©Wim Lahaye

A New Year's Resolution: Wholeheartedness

Wholeheartedness goes a step further than sincerity or honesty. Whoever is honest does not lie and tells the truth. But he/she does not necessarily say everything and does not necessarily show himself completely with all his/her emotions. This can cause problems. Anyone who says yes when given an impossible assignment is not dishonest, but is confronted with a problem due to a lack of wholeheartedness.

In wholeheartedness, the bearer is an open book. He surrenders himself to the listener in full confidence and assumes that the listener has all the capacity to share in the joy and pain that the message brings. The wholehearted person is not only honest in words but also in posture, attitude and interest in the reaction of the other. The wholehearted person approaches the fellow human being with an audacious confidence. He/she is well aware that the listener may not like the message, but consciously acts vulnerably, with his / her imperfections, to get the message into the heart of the listener. The message is so important that all shame and fear of ridicule is overcome.

An interesting question is whether you can learn or practice wholeheartedness. It's a bit like the virtue of patience; it's a passive letting go rather than an active doing. What we have to learn to let go of is the question how we look like and today this is mainly the sensed need to appear 'cool'. It is the most horrible contemporary need by the way, because what is still so nice about being cool when everybody is cool already?

Wholeheartedness can move mountains. But the wholehearted person must lower shields and be willing to be hurt by the fellow man. Wholeheartedness takes courage. But there is something in return. Most people are good and that is why they also appreciate courage and wholeheartedness. So let us make it a very whole-heartfelt year!

Some charismatic leaders are also wholehearted. I refer to the YouTube video of Brené Brown. She doesn't only explain the concept, she also radiates in her speech what wholeheartedness is. Brené Brown on the Building Blocks of Wholeheartedness – The Marginalian

Picture from shutterstock.com

Against the Tide

This book is a posthumous anthology of Roger Scruton's writings, edited by Mark Dooley. Roger Scruton was an eminent British conservative thinker. Conservatism in his opinion is the awareness that many of the good things we enjoy now, are actually the fruit of self-sacrifice from our predecessors and therefore they require protection. It is self-evident that in times of change, this protection is highly needed.

The term sacrifice is all too often associated with abuse and exploitation, whereas sacrifice is actually essential to achieve anything worth pursuing. The mainstream press associates conservatism with populism, as this press considers itself progressive. Conservative thinkers like Roger Scruton also emphasise the fact that citizenship involves obligations for the people who reside here. Therefore also the benefits should return to the people who reside here.

By living among freedom fighters in Eastern Europe before 1989, the author became aware of the transforming effect of sacrifice on the human character. He explains the resistance of countries like Poland and Hungary against Europe. European institutions have no soul and their bureaucracy resembles the bureaucracy of the old communist party. Europe, Quo Vadis?

The author rightfully complains about the destructive work of postmodernism (my wording). The spoilt post-war children sneer at our ideals but never understood why we needed them. Truth, virtue and beauty no longer seem to exist. Our society can never degenerate to a point where vice alone has a following. “When we start to celebrate ugliness, we become ugly too”.

Roger Scruton is extremely critical against modern pedagogy. He detests the jargon created by ‘people who can neither write with skill nor read with understanding’. He is not willing to adopt the art of taking offence, the ‘woke’ or witch-hunt culture, which dominates the social media. He doesn't deny the possibility of injustice but he unmasks the sociologists who detect structural violence behind all power exercised, even power that is a legitimate outcome of consent and compromise.

Scruton also asks why holiness has not retained its meaning to us. Christian faith is now covered with ridicule by trivialising materialists and sarcastic cynics but as the author points out: Christian religion exactly teaches us to accept ridicule. The validity of the Christian message can never be affected by what others think or do. Those who read my blogs from time to time, know that this is a central theme for me.

I refer to my blog The Honour of Humiliation and The Chasm between Populists and Academics. Roger Scruton is also one of the thinkers in the Dutch book Denkers van vandaag voor de wereld van morgen.

The Honour of Humiliation

In our blog Senators are good men we already learned that people seek recognition in the group they belong to. Members of a group tend to behave like selfish sheep. The herd itself behaves like a bad beast. The Russian president became more popular in his country by starting a war. Western leaders have started using warlike language to become more popular as well. Nowadays, at both sides, truth is at risk. Fortunately, in the history of time, there have always been leaders who have been able to stand out. They were not leaders by worldly power; they were leaders by moral authority.

Emile Zola went to prison after having written his famous letter ‘J’accuse’ to the people of France. He did this because he was convinced that truth and justice were more important than power. Other examples include Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Dag Hammarskjöld. These people retaliated evil with good. They accepted all the consequences of their unwavering integrity. Thereby they exposed the lack of integrity of the political parties they had to deal with; they also exposed themselves to the aggression of these parties but never changed their opinion to comply with the powerful. They preferred the honour of humiliation over the disgrace of power.

What silent people could do, is support such leaders. We need to recognise Confucius inequality. It will inspire new candidate leaders. After all, nowadays the fools stand out too easily.

I refer to my blogs Ode to Audacity (English) and Leiderschap en Liefde (Dutch).

Picture: Henry de Groux, Zola aux outrages, File:Zolasortie.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Bemoaned Benefits of Boredom

How long is it since you experienced boredom? If you are fifty and still at work, I guess it is a very long time ago. You may remember you experienced as a child the endlessness of time and the sadness of not knowing what to do. On the other hand, you may also remember the benefits of boredom: silence, time, quietness and peace of mind.

All this is no longer possible, due to our social web addiction. If by accident, we get a rare spare moment we immediately waste it on our smartphone or computer. In this way we can only get bored by the nonsense of others. This is a sad thing. It is as if we are afraid to discover our true self.

The loss we experience in this way is the loss of the fruits of boredom. The fruits generated by silence, time, quietness and peace of mind. These fruits are curiosity, creativity, erudition, spirituality and patience. These fruits of boredom bring us much closer to our fellow human being than the superficial hyperactivity displayed in postmodern times on the worldwide web.

Let us change something in our lifestyle.

Picture: Knalfestival exposition KU Leuven library ©Wim Lahaye

Dare to Expect

Before being thrown into 'real' life again, we start making New Year's resolutions. The older you get the more anxious you may become to have high expectations. We tend to become afraid to get disappointed in life, therefore we tend to reduce our ambitions and expectations.

However if we want to achieve something in 2022, we should have high ambitions and expectations. it is true that disappointment may be lurking but if we are mild to ourselves we will never regret an ambitious endeavour. It rather becomes a problem when our ambition was too low and if we were too anxious to start in the first place. We don't really need a perfect outcome, but we should be glad about all progress made.

We should not only dare to expect from ourselves we should also dare to expect from others. Friendship should not only be giving it should also be demanding. We have the right to ask our friends for help and we should have confidence that they are prepared to help us to the extent possible. Again disappointment may be lurking but we should always be mild if our expectations cannot be met.

I refer to my earlier blogs “Ode to Audacity” and “Expectations”.

Picture source: SES

Be resourceful and courageous

In this season, we easily feel angry and passionate about things. We are deeply frustrated about the problems of our time, the small Corona crisis and the big Environment crisis. We show our wit in the media by pointing to the political causes of the problem. In the end however, our sharp view gets lost in an ocean of views. It needs to hide our helplessness and despair in solving the planet’s problems.

In this Sunday’s lectures, Christ assembles his own self-made whip and chases all merchants out of the temple, fulfilling the prophecy: “The passion for God’s house will consume me”(*). Christ’s anger was a sign he cared and so is our anger a sign we care. His anger made him violate the local rules. The rules did not serve their purpose anymore.

When we obediently follow the rules, we may be safe at home and safe for criticism, but a lot of people will miss our compassion and companionship. We may feel very sorry for ourselves, but the Corona crisis hits the poor and the lonely most, those who live in narrow spaces, alone or with the elderly and the sick. They are the victims of the Matthew effect of Misery. Our blind obedience to the rules, without compassion, does not serve any purpose. How can we violate the rules in a smart way? When the impossible needs to be done, we need to look for virtues of people who are used to do the impossible: boy or girl scouts, engineers and entrepreneurs. Resourcefulness and courage are needed most in these impossible times. They are the basis of our resilience.

The word resourceful doesn’t exist in Dutch. We say ‘finding-rich’ (vindingrijk) but this word actually means inventive. The meaning is close however. Resourcefulness is the ability to recognise hidden resources and combine them in a smart and courageous way to achieve the impossible. In the overdose of news we get, I sometimes discover wonderful stories of resourcefulness and courage. The question is whether you can cultivate these abilities or whether you need to be born with them. It is a bit of both. Resourcefulness and courage are powerful blends of virtues and talents (so-called ‘gifts of God’).

(*) Footnote: there is a growing tendency in the catholic church to interpret God’s house as our planet Earth. The lecture can therefore also be understood as a teaching not to mess with the planet.

Inspiration from an article by J. Haers, Kerk & Leven 2021/09.

Picture: Water mill at Arenberg Castle, Leuven ©Wim Lahaye

A New Year's Resolution: Stop the Blame Game

If I were to choose a suited collective New Year's resolution, I would choose stopping the eternal blame game in our society. If something bad happens (e.g. a home for the elderly gets infected by Covid-19), the press immediately indicates potential scapegoats. Something few people seem to understand is: in a complex society like ours, things go wrong and it is not necessarily anybody’s fault. As a leading manager in a large organisation, you may be forced to take decisions, the consequences of which you can’t entirely foresee. What happens in the end, may be the result of a complex interaction between different unpredictable events.

When we think of the Middle Ages, where disease was believed to be caused by witches and devils, we tend to think we belong to an enlightened era, where such nonsense could not prevail. Yet if we look at our daily reactions to bad news, we immediately start with the gallows installation. Sin and guilt are considered obsolete remainders of an all too Christian society, yet sin and guilt have never been more at the centre of attention than now. Confession and penitence on the contrary are no longer permitted. Our mediocracy loves hanging the few excellent people in our society who feel accountable.

The truth is we judge too fast. We can’t imagine being in someone else’s position. Therefore, let us practice mildness. Read my Dutch blog: Het principe van de goede huisvader in een technocratie.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

This story, originally written by Washington Irving in the 18th century, is very similar to Rip Van Winkle. It also takes place in the peaceful rural environment of Dutch colonists, in and around early New Amsterdam or New York. It is written in the same colourful English.

The village of Tarry Town or Sleepy Hollow is a place where superstition and mystery are part of daily life. It is notorious for the legend of the headless horseman, sometimes called Major André, a decapitated soldier who is believed to chase people in search of his lost head. The highly educated Ichabod Crane comes from the city and is supposed to bring reason and order in Tarry Town as the local teacher.

Ichabod falls in love with the 18-year old Katrina Van Tassel, the well-rounded daughter of a wealthy Dutch settler. He faces tough competition though, as Brom van Brunt, the local sturdy guy, also wants to court the lovely Katrina. On the dramatic evening when Ichabod asks for the hand of the lovely Katrina, he seems to be turned down and needs to drive home through the area where the headless horseman reigns. When he actually encounters the headless horseman, he rides for his life, and falls from his horse before he can reach the bridge that should have led him to safety. The story has a completely open end. It just describes the scene the next day. Only Ichabod's hat and his saddle remain. Ichabod is never seen again in the area. The scene suggests that Brom van Brunt may have abused Ichabod’s superstition to scare him off for life. (By the way, the 1999 Tim Burton movie with Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, doesn't follow the book 'by the book'.)

The story is a hilarious confrontation between the rational city education and the superstitious country life. This is a personal opinion, but I suspect Irving's character Ichabod is based on an acquaintance of his, perhaps even a political enemy. The 'morale of the story' is not so obvious as in Rip Van Winkle. There is a short epilogue written by Irving in which he denies there is no morale to the story. True or not: there is certainly wisdom at hand. He writes: “He who races with goblin troopers, is likely to have a rough ride.” And “He who …..loses the hand of a Dutch settler's daughter, may enjoy the preferment of the state”. The basic idea is that there is always an advantage at every disadvantage. This is a very Dutch thought...and it makes me happy.

The Pursuit of Attention

In 2019, the pursuit of happiness has become a pursuit of attention. You may have food and clothes, a good health, a house with a garden and some security. If you feel like you don’t receive or ‘deserve’ attention, you will be unhappy. In this time of Beschleunigung and Social Web Addiction, when everybody chases his self-defined goals at 120 km/h and 10Mbit/s, attention has become the most pursued good, the holy grail of happiness.

In the world of politics and media, attention makes and breaks careers. In the world of work, companies no longer need hard-working people or smart people, they need people who spend all their attention to work and it has become a challenge to identify the ones who do. In education, the children have not become lazier or more rebellious, it just has become increasingly difficult to attract their attention, due to the thousands of stimuli and opportunities they need to process each day. We see a lot of kids that are of good will, but they are dropping out because of a lack of attention from their parents and their teachers.

Relationships between friends, partners, parents and children can only be nurtured through mutual attention. Attention is love and love is attention. But attention requires time and energy, so we have to get our priorities right! With this blog, I once again show I’m good in theory. Practice in family life however proves that “we” usually fail towards the ones we love most. It is rare that one regrets not having answered a remark from a remote Facebook friend. After answering a thousand remarks from remote Facebook friends however, we may regret not having paid attention to our partner, our children or our parents. And finally, it can even happen that we don’t pay enough attention to ourselves.

A special kind of paying attention is attentiveness, a very useful virtue in social life. I also refer to my blog: You are your Time

Picture: zijkant Beursgebouw Brussel ©Wim Lahaye

Leonardo and his Creation

Today we remember Leonardo da Vinci who died on
2 May 1519, exactly 500 years ago. Leonardo remains the most famous example of a “homo universalis”, a versatile man and a man of creativity and passion. He could pass as the man most recognised in history for having developed his many talents.

Looking at today’s company culture, Leonardo could be a role model. Today’s adage is: follow your dreams and passions, develop yourself! I sometimes call this the Steve Jobs culture. Although I support like most people the idea of self-development, this Steve Jobs culture is based on a contemporary problem and a contemporary misconception. The contemporary problem is that in larger organisations, there are only a few people who can really make free choices of their own (such as Steve Jobs) and the other 99% needs to sweat to realise these nice ideas. Even worse, the biotope of knowledge workers is far from attractive in most cases and that is why all this Steve Jobs nonsense is spreading well on the social media. Larger companies will not support multiple Leonardos, at most a single one who pulls the ropes like Steve Jobs.

The misconception is the idea that creative people are people who are doing what they like. Wrong. Creative people have a clear vision of what they would like to realise and they do everything they can to realise it, including the activities they absolutely detest. In other words, creative people aim at a beautiful result of creativity, not at the creation work itself, which is usually hard. Passion means suffering and passionate people suffer a lot during their creation work; they only enjoy the beauty of the end result. A thing of beauty is a joy forever ... once it is ready. The joy of creation is not doing what you like, it is holding in your hand what you could only imagine for so long. Creativity can’t do without patience and diligence.

I refer to “Believe in Personal Progress” and “Ode to Curiosity” and to my Dutch blog: “Imaginatio”.

Ode to Audacity

“Quantum potes, tantum aude”, As much as you can, so much you should dare. It is a sentence written around 1264 by Thomas Aquinas in his sequence  Lauda Sion Salvatorem. In the next sentence he explains the reason why: “because you can never praise God enough”. Thomas suggests it takes a certain audacity –against God and man- to pay a tribute to God. But he also suggests that God likes those who dare, those who show audacity.

Medieval man was not so different from postmodern man. Perhaps all virtues seemed more divine in those days, but most of them still stand today. We feel intuitively that audacity has a certain value, as it is also related to courage. If we don’t dare, we achieve less than we can, and this feels like a sin, although we don’t call it a sin anymore. Sometimes, audacity requires the fight against fear. Darers deserve praise. Entrepreneurs accept high mental risks and deserve to be praised by society. There is however an unclear boundary between audacity and recklessness. According to Thomas Aquinas, you should only dare as much as you can. Yet audacity is often needed when you can’t know very well what you can, and our aviation pioneers could not have brought us the wonders of flying without a certain recklessness.

Our society has paradoxically become extremely risk-averse in a number of things. We could even discern a certain lethargy in a number of areas, probably because we have become too attached to our image and to a number of realisations of the last century, and we refuse to adapt to new times. We tend to draw all benefits of the modern world to ourselves, yet at the same we push back all risks of modern life to the public authorities, who are always to blame if something bad happens. We fail to see our world will only be safe with world-wide social justice.

Let us therefore show audacity and courage in realising this worldwide social justice. Perhaps our audacity will encounter resistance – also within ourselves – but it will finally deserve praise and God will like it, according to Thomas Aquinas.

Looking for a New Year's Resolution

If you are looking for a new year’s resolution in this year 2018, I could recommend mildness. Mildness is a special type of generosity, and generosity was already our 2017 resolution.

Mildness is also a special type of moderation or moderateness. We deliberately decide not to judge too fast. We decide to be modest in our judgement. There are several reasons for this. First, we know we may also become subject to the judgement of others. If we could only experience the harshness with which we judge others, we would realise we would all fail in our own exam. The only reason we can live with this thought is that we know internally why we fail in the expectations that have been put on us. We forget that others also carry internal reasons why they can’t fulfil the expectations that we have put on them.

I am sometimes totally stupefied by people’s judgement harshness in the social media. It seems as if people feel better about themselves if they can collect likes by judging people very severely. If our society is plagued by stress, it may be an indication that we tend to judge too severely, or at least that our expectations are unfairly high. Perhaps we dream too much or we don’t perceive the difficulties of others sufficiently. Lack of mildness is the largest impediment to good collaboration in teams, between companies and between political parties.

Judgement and lack of mildness is also a hindrance to friendship and love. We tend to believe it becomes more difficult to acquire friends when we get older. This is not true. We have just become too good and too fast at judging people. With a little mildness we can allow more people into our circle of friends. A friend is simply someone for whom you have given up judgement, because you found out his/her qualities were much more useful and interesting. Perhaps we need to practice more in perceiving and mentioning our friends' qualities. This would make much better content for the social media!

This topic can be found on my dutch blog, under the name Nolite Iudicare (don’t judge). If you doubt about the usefulness of a new year’s resolution, you should read the book of life. 

Picture taken at the town of Haarlem, the Netherlands