A little over two years ago, I stood with a friend in a town where we had both elected to go to grad school. “Why are we doing this?” I asked him, “Why is anyone doing what they’re doing? I bet society as a whole will collapse in the near future.” My friend said he… Continue reading Climate
Tag: Academia
Spiritual vs scientific objectivity
I want to introduce the idea that there is a form of spiritual objectivity that can be reached over a lifetime of emotional work and spiritual practice. This framework is parallel to scientific objectivity, but transcends and encompasses it. In scientific objectivity, we work to ensure that we as observers remain separate from the experiment… Continue reading Spiritual vs scientific objectivity
An unlikely union
My whole life I’ve been distrustful of doctors. I don’t know what it is. The coldness of the waiting room, the feeling of paranoia amongst the people waiting. The feeling of being analyzed when seen by the doctor, as though the exchange is a one-way street. In me, the childhood fear of needles has never… Continue reading An unlikely union
The authentic self and the illusion of the academy
While living in Colorado Springs between 2015 and -16, I wrote a novel on power, alienation, and education. I never gave it a title, but the work describes a high-powered Academy where children are taken away from their families, then trained in a series of exercises that culminate in the ability to “Produce,” meaning manifest… Continue reading The authentic self and the illusion of the academy
Impostor syndrome as spiritual dilemma
Probably as many as 70% of graduate students suffer from impostor syndrome, and I am one. According to a cursory internet search, impostor syndrome is a “psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a ‘fraud.’” For me, this fear centers almost entirely around… Continue reading Impostor syndrome as spiritual dilemma
