You’ll Never Guess Who Wrote This.
Try and guess without Googling. If you know . . . wait. I’ll post the answer later or tomorrow.
We are spirits. That bodies should be lent us while they afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or in doing good to our fellow creatures, is a kind of benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes, and afford us pain instead of pleasure, instead of an aid become an encumbrance, and answer none of those intentions for which they were given, it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by which we get rid of them. Death is that way.
There Are Two Kinds of People in the World . . .
. . . those who think there are two kinds of people in the world, and those who don’t.
In My Pajamas
An article of mine appeared on Pajamas Media in early December and I didn’t even know it.
“You Are Not Your Brain.”
My fascinating friend Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz — very serious, ebullient and funny — may be doing some of the most important thinking and discovering on the planet. You Are Not Your Brain is the title of his next book, coming out in June. This long video is completely enthralling to me. It’s about basic stuff like mood, addictions, and overeating, and how much choice and control we actually have.
Jeff’s companion in the video is Kellie Madison, a young filmmaker who is raising funds for a dramatic (not documentary) movie, Machine Man, about a man tormented by obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD, Jeff’s specialty as a neuropsychiatrist) and redeemed by love. If you’re interested in the subject of OCD, she and Jeff discuss it at greater length here. A fascinating topic of both videos is Jeff’s work with Leo DiCaprio to prepare for the film The Aviator, whose subject, Howard Hughes, was an unknowing victim of OCD. With today’s understanding of the disorder, to which Jeff has been a major contributor, he would not have had to be.
Ambiance 