Good Morning Digital Neighbors! How about a visit to some more of the quotes and statements by various psychologists? When we last visited this little book we had an extended stop with William James and perhaps that is a good place to begin.

We may be in the Universe as dogs and cats are in our libraries, seeing the books and hearing the conversation, but having no inkling of the meaning of it all. - William James

Humility. A humble mind and a strong will is a fairly good set of attributes to cultivate in individuals and groups. Humble about our certitude of the big picture and more courageous to act in our daily sphere of interaction. Zealotry of any kind is a great drug for making people adhere to a set a beliefs without much thought and subsequently treat neighbors with the same lack of thought and consideration. One aspect of zealotry is old time "othering". Once I have identified "them", how I treat them is less of an issue in wrestling with the messiness of ethical behavior and the ugly consequences they might suffer. Sustained zealotry, cultivated contempt, widely accepted disdain for neighbors can lead to generational or centuries long oppression. Most of the world and its history is about our inability to recognize our neighbor as similar to us and add injuries of past atrocities and loss of loved ones to the bonfire of zealotry that fuels division.

We can't lay all the blame at the feet of zealotry, but I think we can admit that many can be lead down the path of uncritical acceptance of "leaders" and "experts" and taught to pivot from "we are all in this together" to blaming the doubters and punishing the critics. Banned, fired, cancelled, destroyed has become a normative reality. I tend to be ambivalent about Alex Jones and don't care for him stylistic bombast, but the recent result of his lawsuits and how many people agree with them as fitting is a good illustration of the unmooring of common sense for many.

The desire to make sense of the meaning of it all can be lost to so many. I may even be among them without knowing it. I know it is often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt but it is a good check on our mental feeding habits. Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. How we feed our minds, nourish our souls, tend to our time is so essential to a more complete or a more empty life. I know that statement is suspect since we are all participating in the internet, but meet your neighbors where you find them.

Human beings are born into this little span of life of which the best thing is its friendships and intimacies … and yet they leave their friendships and intimacies with no cultivation, to grow as they will by the roadside, expecting them to "keep" by force of mere inertia. - William James

I hope we all have the tools to cultivate our friends. I wonder if many have lost the ability the recognize the tools for what they are. While we don't need an abundance of friends, a few good ones are needed to round out life. Left to our own devices we are all on the path of blind exaggeration, of championing the marginal cause or causes fed by the one reliable fact or indisputable experience we have made the interpretive tool for reality. Good friends expand our toolset and help check our exaggerations. Bad friends feed them. I hope your life is fed with good friends. Happy Tuesday ADD Irregulars, Friends, Refugees, Phamily, Seekers and Triggeratti! Happy Tuesday to all the rest of you digital neighbors and the varied and wonderous niche' you inhabit and share on Locals.

Ouachita Cabin - Arkansas