I just asked a friend, \u201cwhat are you trying to achieve at this point in your life?\u201d Then realized: What a question! Ask it of yourself! So here I offer some provisional answers:
1. Love my beloved wife, Allee, and give her a wonderful life; and enjoy being with her as she becomes ever happier. Wow!
2. Being part of a community and extended family, several clubs, enjoying and validating others, helping move the furniture in preparation for or putting away after events, etc. (Really, that\u2019s a huge sector with many facets, but I\u2019m trying to be succinct.)
3. Writing, ah, yes, but only after 1 & 2. Still, I do like writing here on my blog, spouting off about my reflections about this \u2018n that.
4. Finish several books, and maybe a few more\u2014maybe. Balance critical thinking with imaginative excess: Note how they can indeed be balanced!
5. I can\u2019t begin to advocate enough for a bit more rigor in thought, a bit of thinking about thinking and about life. I used to think everyone was reflective\u2014how would I know differently? Nobody admits to being non-reflective. But gradually\u2014and only in the last ten years, really\u2014has it grown on me that lots of people, most people, are far less reflective; and of those who are reflective, far less critical of their own thinking. But it\u2019s not only that I\u2019m encouraging thinking; I\u2019m also pointing to tools that can help the relatively non-reflective to access this rich dimension a bit more easily and in a less-threatening fashion. But discussing that is a whole \u2018nother paper.
6. Not inconsistently\u2014because each mode has its place!\u2014I also argue for pretending, and doing so consciously\u2014i.e., knowing and admitting that you\u2019re pretending. The more you pretend on purpose, they more you\u2019ll become aware of how much other stuff that you \u201cbelieved\u201d was in reality a sub-set of pretending, but one that fit your map of reality.
7. Writing books about pretending, playing, role playing, integrating drama and imagination with action, group dynamics, inter-action, all as a way to achieve all the aforementioned.<\/p>\n
Well, that\u2019s enough for now. There\u2019s more\u2014lots more\u2014singing, cartooning, reaching out and making contacts, etc.\u2014a well diversified life. Bottom line: Serving the Everything Becoming, the Awakening Mystery, the focus of mystical aspiration. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just asked a friend, \u201cwhat are you trying to achieve at this point in your life?\u201d Then realized: What a question! Ask it of yourself! So here I offer some provisional answers: 1. Love my beloved wife, Allee, and give her a wonderful life; and enjoy being with her as she becomes ever happier. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autobiographical","category-favoritethings","category-whassup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}