The Code Project
The handle on the outside of Jon's passenger door didn't work.
He was parked outside the little old house I lived in back in fourth year. The snow was thick on the ground, the sun was blazing and the sky was a blinding blue.
He leaned across, let me in and asked if I wanted to go to a psychic fair.
Not long later I was parked across a table from a middle age woman as a tape recorder rolled. She closed her eyes and took my hands. The instant she did, she leaned back a little, smiled and opened her eyes.
"Your mind," she said. "It's like a great room full of filing cabinets. Everything is filed away very carefully. Everything has a place."
The filing cabinets are a little too far apart these days.
It seems my entire life I've been searching for a system that works for me. I've searched for one that works for me on all levels.
I've found pieces.
From philosophy: taoism and stoicism. From my dad, my sensei and Spenser: various codes of honour. From the Villain Project: the principles of villainy.
They work on different levels, in different situations. Like physicists dealing with different phenomena, I know what files to pull to get the theories I need for the current situation.
For circumstances beyond my control, stoicism. For questions of how to act, honour. For peace with my place in the world, taoism. For having fun in my life, villainy.
But in turning to one, I feel I've turned away from the rest and am plagued with cognitive dissonance.
Like physicists, I need a grand unified theory. My 'new' project is to finish a lifelong pursuit of one system that will work on all levels and in all situations.
Yes, I'm serious. My tongue is also firmly planted in my cheek. I'm comfortable with that.
He was parked outside the little old house I lived in back in fourth year. The snow was thick on the ground, the sun was blazing and the sky was a blinding blue.
He leaned across, let me in and asked if I wanted to go to a psychic fair.
Not long later I was parked across a table from a middle age woman as a tape recorder rolled. She closed her eyes and took my hands. The instant she did, she leaned back a little, smiled and opened her eyes.
"Your mind," she said. "It's like a great room full of filing cabinets. Everything is filed away very carefully. Everything has a place."
The filing cabinets are a little too far apart these days.
It seems my entire life I've been searching for a system that works for me. I've searched for one that works for me on all levels.
I've found pieces.
From philosophy: taoism and stoicism. From my dad, my sensei and Spenser: various codes of honour. From the Villain Project: the principles of villainy.
They work on different levels, in different situations. Like physicists dealing with different phenomena, I know what files to pull to get the theories I need for the current situation.
For circumstances beyond my control, stoicism. For questions of how to act, honour. For peace with my place in the world, taoism. For having fun in my life, villainy.
But in turning to one, I feel I've turned away from the rest and am plagued with cognitive dissonance.
Like physicists, I need a grand unified theory. My 'new' project is to finish a lifelong pursuit of one system that will work on all levels and in all situations.
Yes, I'm serious. My tongue is also firmly planted in my cheek. I'm comfortable with that.
