Category: philosophical counseling
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Money, Our Elephant in the Room: Some Reflections
Last night, Leon Berg, a founding member of The Ojai Foundation, and I hosted a conversation at The Ojai Foundation. The title of the conversation was ‘Money: Our Elephant in the Room.’ Could there be any subject that is more taboo than that of money? Common sense tells us that money is to be used but…
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Eloquence Training: Episode 3. Misconceptions About Eloquence
Eloquence involves saying the right thing in the right way with a sense of ease. An eloquent person, then, is someone who often or almost always speaks eloquently. In this third episode, Alexandra and I discuss misconceptions about the nature of eloquence: that eloquence is flowery speech, charismatic speech, or scholarly discourse. We urge instead…
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The Limits of ‘Creating Safe Spaces’: Contests of Toughness for Our Time
The Limits of ‘Creating Safe Spaces’ There is a great deal of talk going around about ‘creating safe spaces’ to ‘foster communication,’ ‘open dialogue,’ and ‘facilitate exchanges.’ Discomfort is to be removed, managed, or adjusted. Being uncomfortable is ruled out or encouraged it means being ‘at the edge of one’s comfort zone.’ Ground rules are set, based…
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Contests, Modes of Toughness, and the Spirit of Our Times
Not everything in life is a contest but surely some things are. In a contest, I struggle, I risk something, I stake myself. I can avoid contests but only at the cost of avoiding becoming a more excellent human being. I doubt whether we can continue to avoid the contests we face in the coming years. Some…
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How to Learn to Stand Up for Yourself
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that one mode of physico-ethical toughness is standing up… (e.g., standing up for oneself, standing up for what one believes, standing up to oppression) as opposed to backing down (e.g., backing down from one’s opponent). So, there would be situations in which the right thing to do would be to…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 