Essays on becoming by Chris Barclay
What do you do in your free time? We ask this harmless question to better know a person by their interests or when we want to steer the conversation away from work. I pose it when I sense that people aren’t inspired in their career, because of the way they say things like, “It’s just […]
Continue Reading“We all want to live. And in large part we make our logic according to what we like. But not having attained our aim and continuing to live is cowardice. This is a thin dangerous line. To die without gaining one’s aim is a dog’s death. But there is no shame in this. This is […]
Continue ReadingOne winter in college I was visiting Paris, sitting at the bistro near my hotel just watching people. An American couple came in and the husband, in an accent I would best describe as “Chicago detective” (the word “Paris” came out sounding like “Pears”), called the waiter and tried to get “Two diet cokes”. The […]
Continue ReadingSince I started writing on UnboundedLife, I’ve given a thought a lot to what freedom is and what it means in the context of human nature. One theme that I’ve come back to repeatedly is mobility; designing a life from a purposeful future, versus living out an extension of the past. It’s a lofty idea […]
Continue ReadingAs someone who writes about the meaning of personal freedom, I’ve so far stayed clear of political issues, preferring to focus on the power of conscious living. Despite living in Thailand most of the year and enjoying progressive Seattle in the summers, because I remain a U.S. citizen, I am still in servitude to a […]
Continue ReadingGrief is the virus that surges and retreats without cure. It lingers dormant in the dark recesses of memory. Tears are the vector that spread its contagion among us. It seems I’ve beat it then there’s a welling up in my throat. I feel the tremor and then a convulsion that chokes me. There is […]
Continue Reading2010 is the year I move my money. I’ve been too complacent for too long, and have been allowing those institutions who, while benefiting from huge taxpayer bailouts, to use that money to enrich themselves while drastically reducing local lending and fighting legislation that would regulate the reckless investment practices that got us into this […]
Continue Reading