The Unexamined Life
On the Sources of Knowledge
If I was pressed, as I sometimes am, to single out the most valuable lesson I have learned in my time at Harvard it would have to be this: Harvard has taught me to distinguish between drinkable waters and toxic ones.
By this I mean something very simple—that there are many sources of information in this world, and that choosing which ones to trust is one of the most important decisions a person can make. In ours, the heralded age of information, where content is so plentiful, it can be tempting to try to gulp down a waterfall, when instead one ought to prioritize finding a suitable filter.
On Loneliness
The feeling of loneliness is not glamorous or impressive; it does not announce itself. It is mostly never around, but it chooses to keep you company in those moments in which you would much rather be alone. Loneliness, in it’s temporary and non-venomous form is not the worst of human emotions. There are many that are worse—helplessness, hopelessness, grief. And though ubiquitous, it is usually impermanent, and usually treatable.
I am speaking not of romantic loneliness or sexual frustration, but rather the vague feeling of disconnectedness from the people around you—a feature of college life that I suspect is more prevalent than most of us would like to admit. Where does it come from—I’d like to explore a few theories.
On Being Inadequate
I suspect many of us grew up with ambitious plans. Our heroes after all are not borrowed from the middle echelons of middle management, but sit at the very tops of their respective pyramids. Einsteins, Newtons, Kennedys, Gandhis, Kings. As children, in our most audacious moments, we see ourselves as astronauts, movie stars, and superheroes.
However, we all know that this delusion cannot continue for long. At some point, we must redirect our ambitions downward. We must confess that while there are always deficiencies in circumstance and flaws in opportunity, there are also inadequacies within ourselves. There are lengths to which we cannot run, no matter how hard we might try. Children who dream of being astronauts must inevitably be brought back down to Earth, and there is no better time for this to happen than at the transition point into college.
On Happiness
Perhaps we have all been lied to.
In 1781, when Jeremy Bentham wrote that the principle of utility is “the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people,” he gave shape to a line of reasoning that has persisted to this day.
On Safety Nets
To jump or not to jump, that is the question.
At this point in my life I feel like a suitable metaphor is that of a tower—a skyscraper breaking through a canopy of clouds. On the lower levels sit arithmetic, basic algebra, reading comprehension, chapter books, middle-school crushes, graduations, calculus, papers, parties, graduations, first-jobs, transitions, office Christmas parties, suits, dark shoes, weddings, mortgages and somewhere up above there are boardrooms, penthouse suites, changing-worlds, and billion dollar deals being done.