The Book of Secrets
been wanting to write a book since my teens. I’m 65 now… and utterly bookless.
I don’t know. Writing a book seems pretty complicated. Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I like complicated things, but then I get all squeamish over how bogged down complexity can make you.
And just a couple days ago I was reading Unsplash on Medium, and their Kickstarter for publishing a book. “When we first said we were going to make a book, we underestimated the shit out of what this would take. We’d built websites before. We’d written blog posts before. And we’ve started and are scaling a business. But man, doing a print book is a whole ‘nother world of crazy.”
So anyway, maybe I should write a book about things that don’t make sense. Yet somehow they do. I could call it ‘Thoughts Written in Disappearing Ink’ because who’s going to remember it anyway? Or maybe I could call it…
The Book of Semi-Modest Secrets
Maybe it could be a little book of simple observations. Here are some short samples:
- “When you’re left-handed, it’s pretty easy to admit you’re not always right.”
This is difficult to argue with. Because most of us like it when someone else is wrong… and we’re right.
- “Sometimes I’m certain I belong somewhere. But then uncertainty lights the way for me, once again.”
- “Complexity is good, as long as it’s kept simple.”
- “It’s pretty easy to change the world, but it gets harder when you try to improve it.”
I like things that make you think, but are hard to disagree with. It builds consensus. Consensus building is good, because it’s a first cousin of inclusiveness.
- “If you have too many thoughts, you can’t think.”
- “The thing about Taoist and Zen paradoxes is their simple and infuriating way of making no sense whatsoever… except when they do.”
- “When you leave no stone unturned, the moss can’t grow.”
That last one is for all those super-achievers. But I doubt they would ever have time to read it. What with all their objectives, goals and milestones.
- “The longer I keep things at a distance, the closer they get.”
- “Somewhere between right and wrong is where fault and blame are no longer important.”
- “I keep trying to make things simple. It’s complicated.”
The thing is, we all find the river a bit more muddy than we care to admit.
- “I think what we are all really after, when boil away all the things that don’t count, is what’s left.”
- Put another way, “If you take away from people everything that they consider ‘right’, all you have is what’s left.”
