ELON MUSK

Walter Isaacson wrote a 615 page book on Elon Musk that captures the essence of his life. I cannot say that I learned much more than I knew, but it was amazing that he could detail so much of his brilliant mind  and his personality that was shaped by a most difficult family history in South Africa, compounded by his Asperger’s syndrome. His brain worked in and out, but generally with incredible intelligence and great success even though it required some losses that only made him more preservative in achieving his goals.

For me, the most successful aspect of his intelligence was his persistence, demonstrated by the failures of his rockets that only energized him more. The most difficult aspect was his failure to tolerate others who were not helpful.

What ended up with my admiration of Walter Isaacson’s ability to not only report the history but the inclusion of so many quotes of actual discussion he had. Where he got the quotations implies that he was incredibly intelligent.

His conclusion was incredibly simple but most pertinent.”Do the audacious and hubris that drive him to attempt epic feats excuse his bad behavior, his callousness, his recklessness? The times he’s an asshole? The  answer is no, of course.One can admire a person’s good traits and decry the bad ones. But it is also important to understand how the strands are woven together, sometimes tightly. It can be hard to remove the dark ones without unraveling the whole cloth. As Shakespeare teaches us, all heroes have flaws, some tragic, some conquered, and those we cast as villains can be complex.Even the bast people, he wrote, are “molded out of faults”.

A World of an Old Man

All of my life has been very busy. I have been well educated by virtue of 14 years of higher education. I have gifted to have served as a priest, then a social worker, followed by the amazing experience of being one of the  first employees of the Veterans Administration to know how to use a computer. I eventually became the CEO of Mental Health in New England. It went very well until my data continuously stated that we were not doing justice to veterans injured in the Iraq War. When I persisted to share my data, the COO told that I could not talk anymore. So I retired (history proved that my data was correct.

In retirement, I started to volunteer for Hospice programs and Meals on Wheels. Now that has ended, I fully retired and will see my 86th birthday in good health.

HOW AMERICA GOT MEAN by DAVID BROOKS

It is not often that a writer expresses views that I totally agree with, but David Brooks clearly accomplished this in the Atlantic Magazine article.  He had a well thought out understanding of moral formation which he identified in four steps: (1) helping people to restrain their selfishness, (2) teaching basic social and ethical skills, (3) helping people find a purpose in life.

He identifies opportunities for contributing to these goals: e.g., education, guiding principles, e.g., justice right and wrong are not just matters of personal taste.  Wise accounting would focus on what is life for. He rightfully noted the need to focus on what is life for! He explained that the increase in suicide, divisiveness between people of different color, etc. is indicative of a serious problem. He indicated that psychology zeros in on mental health, not moral growth. Being raised in a culture without ethical structure, you become internally fragile. Building moral character by focusing on: (1) What is the ruling passion of your soul, (2) What are my moral obligations, (3) What will it take for my life to be meaningful, (4) What does it mean to be a good human in today’s world, (4) What are the central issues we need to engage with concerning new technology and human life.

I surely agree with his long article that explains the predicament of human behavior. The issue I have is how to transfer this knowledge to the population at large, not just those well educated, not those who are active in churches, not just those with parents devoted to their children and not tending towards anger, punishment and use of liquids intending to make them happy in spite of the consequences. 

The short of it is that we live in a world so divided with one another and with other nations that it is difficult to make progress to a more healthy nation and world. 

I personally live in a world bolstered by the Jesuit Pierre Theilhard deChardin and Sr. Ilia Delio who understand the Divine as ever present in all, not just humans, but animals, flowers and all of existing Cosmos. This has taken time to understand this and live with it, given the atrocities throughout the world. But I surely would encourage people to access their literature as simply through Amazon so that you can start a different experience. However, it does not explain how we will live in such a world given the divisions among human beings.  But for me, every moment is a Moment with the Divine!