Essays on freedom and personal fulfilment by Chris Barclay
If attention is the currency of the internet, then anxiety is the currency of modern society. We are part of a massive, finely tuned anxiety machine that offers us the promise of freedom while churning out a dizzying array of choices that overloads our decision-making bandwidth, and distracts us from what really matters. More choice […]
Continue ReadingALONG in his 40s, the American male often plunges into strange fits of black depression. He wakes in a sweat at 4 a.m. He stares at the dim ceiling. His once bright ambitions creep past like beaten soldiers. Face it: he will never run the company, write the novel, make the million. He feels fat […]
Continue ReadingBuddhism teaches that selfish desire is at the root of all suffering. So to proceed with Right Intention, we should seek to free ourselves of desire. This intention in itself, is a selfish desire. To want to rid our selves of something is still a want. To seek nirvana, enlightenment, the Kingdom of Heaven are […]
Continue ReadingI recently spent an afternoon with a friend of mine in China, who is the Communist Party Secretary of small city. Whenever we get together, we always share a few pots of tea and talk candidly about our two governments. This time, we discussed at some length whether the purpose of government is to control […]
Continue ReadingThe UnboundedLife is about what it means to be free, which in itself is paradoxical. Many people see freedom as an escape: to get away to a better place, to remove themselves from the constraints and unhappiness of everyday life. But escape isn’t freedom, it’s just a temporary respite from dissatisfaction that in the end […]
Continue Reading“It’s a zero sum game, sport. Somebody wins and somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made, it’s simply transferred…from one perception to another, like magic”. — Gordon Gecko in Wall Street I’m preparing to give a workshop (playshop) in June at the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat called, Breakthrough Strategies for Attracting Wealth. While the name […]
Continue ReadingIn Chinese traditional culture there is the belief that success requires three conditions: Tian Shi 天时 (right time), Di Li 地利 (right place) and Ren He 人和 (right people). All three of these things, more specifically, the will of heaven (Tian Shi), material resources (Di Li) and the harmony of people (Ren He) must be […]
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