Boundless Reads #96
#1 Rest, Leisure & Vacations: I got a short piece published in Quartz, where I make the case for the ancient type of rest (HT to Andrew Taggart to opening my brain to these ideas in 2018):
To the stoics rest and leisure were active pursuits. Rest did not mean, as it often does today, vacation, days off, or a day or two spent catching up on sleep.
While Quartz is not the New Yorker, it is interesting getting published. I am excited as it seems writing continually is emerging as something I am drawn to while at the same time a bit embarrassed as I look at the piece now and feel like there are still things I didn't fully do justice. Onward in the journey...
#2 Kayfabe: Eric Weinstein argues that an idea from wrestling, Kayfabe, may be an important topic in our emerging world of fake news, misinformation, and manipulation
Importantly, Kayfabe also seems to have discovered the limits of how much disbelief the human mind is capable of successfully suspending before fantasy and reality become fully conflated.
#3 Japanese Life Skills: A Japanese parent reflects on her child's readiness for college. While I was expecting an article about grades and jobs, it was about how Japanese schools emphasizes life skills. This one seems quite unique:
All Japanese children go to school on their own. My son attended a private school 90 minutes from our home. At age 6, he took two trains and a bus, transferring at the world’s biggest rail station.
I don't remember doing anything alone before age 12 or 13.
#4 Remote Work: I interviewed Zapier's CEO on running a 150+ employee fully-remote company that continued to affirm my belief that remote work is one of many subtle shifts that can force a questioning of enough modern beliefs of how we work to enable people to live life in more "harmony" (his words), with a life they want to be living. On their blog, it is no surprise then, that they have a piece titled, The Four-Day Work Week: Why It Works which also includes some of the potential downsides.
#5 Love, Work & Creativity: I just started Reading Erich Fromm's The Art Of Loving and it seems I can't escape reading about work in any context. In it, he argues that we all seek a sense of union, or unity, in our lives and that the only type of work that can help you achieve this is that of the creative variety or one where you can see the effect of your work:
A third way of attaining union lies in creative activity, be it that of the artist, or of the artisan. In any kind of creative work the creating person unites himself with his material, which represents the world outside of himself. Whether a carpenter makes a table, or a goldsmith a piece of jewelry, whether the peasant grows his corn, or the painter paints a picture, in all types of creative work the worker and his object become one, man unites himself with the world in the process of creation.