I grew up in an ordinary, middle-class family in Iowa where I attended public schools. Through a stroke of fate, I was critically injured in a head-on collision in my 20s and received insurance money that allowed me to attend the Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago. My fellow classmates were very different from…
Critical thinking is often misunderstood as the act of finding faults or poking holes in arguments. Perhaps it’s the word “critical” that trips us up, conjuring images of harsh judgment or opposition. But true critical thinking isn’t about tearing things apart—it’s about going deeper. At its heart, critical thinking is the ability to look beneath…
The brilliant philosopher Jacob Needleman passed away one year ago today. Needleman is the one who famously said, “We’re built to serve something greater than ourselves.” In a letter to the president of the Fetzer Institute, Needleman wrote something else that has continued to inspire me throughout my career: “I believe that the group is…
The existential psychologist Rollo May published a ton of books while he was alive. I’ve read two: My Quest for Beauty and The Courage to Create. Rollo May helped develop and popularize existential psychology—a branch of therapy that explores universal aspects of human existence, including concepts like death, freedom, responsibility, and meaning. It’s a psychology…
The desire to create certain outcomes hampers transformation. No matter how much we push, intend and effort, it’s clear that we don’t often have all the answers that we seek. But Something else does. We humans are brilliant when we align with Something greater than ourselves. When we loosen our fixation on what we think,…
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