Carmine Coyote is taking a break.

Surviving in a culture obsessed with emotions 
Have you noticed that the ‘appropriate’ question to ask someone today about a proposal is, “How do you feel about that?” Not, “What do you think of that?” or “Do you have any ideas on that?”
At least on this, US, side of the Atlantic, we live in a culture [...]

“While many of today’s leaders have lost their way due to moral and ethical missteps, just as many are facing a dead end due to their inability to see the big picture,” writes Peter Vajda. “These leaders are intelligent, but, unfortunately, not wise.”

“We need to re-think the culture of risk-taking,” writes John Fletcher. “In today’s bureaucratized and corporate world, individuals rarely suffer any major damage if the risks they take lead to disaster. Heads they win, tails we lose.”

No stick-and-carrot, reward-based system of ethics ever works for long. Rewards lose their value and people find ways to avoid the punishments. True ethics arises when people take the time to think and question what what standards are needed for a civilized society.

We have lived through the age of ‘nice’: the phony smile, the smarmy front hiding the crook within, the welcome into the crocodile‘s lair of cheap credit and ‘can’t fail’ investments. Now, says Jonathan Littman, we’re about to enter an age of Serious Mean.

Just as the labels we apply to others can prevent us from seeing them clearly or appreciating their strengths and value, so the labels you learn to apply to yourself will limit and block your understanding of your own strengths and potential.

“When relationships are replaced by electronic interactions, emotional connection—the human factor that creates true relationships—goes missing,” writes Peter Vajda. Are you short-changing others when it comes to relationships?

“Leadership is mostly a matter of perspective,” writes Richard E. Goldman. “Are you always looking up the ladder to see who’s above you? Instead of worrying where everyone else is, try to reconcile yourself with the possibility that you are in the right place, making the absolute best of the resources you have available to you on that day.”

The evidence that conformity has brought us nearly to economic and financial ruin is overwhelming. Yet people still do it. Why, since the benefits of making your own decisions and choosing your own path through life are both obvious and logical?