Urban Ascetic (Lite)

Gandhi once wrote that "a certain degree of physical harmony and comfort is necessary, but above a certain level it becomes a hindrance instead of a help." This observation raises interesting questions for psychologists regarding the effects of luxury. What psychological consequences do luxury goods have on people? In this paper, the authors argue that luxury goods can activate the concept of self-interest and affect subsequent cognition. The argument involves two key premises: Luxury is intrinsically linked to self-interest, and exposure to luxury can activate related mental representations affecting cognition and decision-making. Two experiments showed that exposure to luxury led people to think more about themselves than others. Key concepts include:

• Luxury does not necessarily induce people to be "nasty" toward others but rather causes them to be less concerned about or considerate toward others.

• Experiment 1 showed that when primed with luxury, people are more likely to endorse self-interested business decisions (profit maximization), even at the expense of others.

• Experiment 2 further demonstrated that exposure to luxury is likely to activate self-interest but not the tendency to harm others.

• Exposure to luxury goods may activate a social norm that it is appropriate to pursue interests beyond a basic comfort level, even at the expense of others. It may be this activated social norm that affects people's judgment and decision-making.

• Alternatively, exposure to luxury may directly increase people's personal desire, causing them to focus on their own benefits such as prioritizing profits over social responsibilities.

1. Look at problems in many different ways.
   Find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!)

   Leonardo da Vinci believed that, to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He felt that the first way he looked at a problem was too biased. Often, the problem itself is reconstructed and becomes a new one.

2. Visualize!

   When Einstein thought through a problem, he always found it necessary to formulate his subject in as many different ways as possible, including using diagrams. He visualized solutions, and believed that words and numbers as such did not play a significant role in his thinking process.

3. Produce! 
   A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity.

   Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many "bad" ones. They weren't afraid to fail, or to produce mediocre in order to arrive at excellence.

4. Make novel combinations. 
   Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual.

   The laws of heredity on which the modern science of genetics is based came from the Austrian monk Grego Mendel, who combined mathematics and biology to create a new science.

5. Form relationships.
   Make connections between dissimilar subjects.

   Da Vinci forced a relationship between the sound of a bell and a stone hitting water. This enabled him to make the connection that sound travels in waves. Samuel Morse invented relay stations for telegraphic signals when observing relay stations for horses.

6. Think in opposites.

   Physicist Niels Bohr believed, that if you held opposites together, then you suspend your thought, and your mind moves to a new level. His ability to imagine light as both a particle and a wave led to his conception of the principle of complementarity. Suspending thought (logic) may allow your mind to create a new form.

7. Think metaphorically.

   Aristotle considered metaphor a sign of genius, and believed that the individual who had the capacity to perceive resemblances between two separate areas of existence and link them together was a person of special gifts.

8. Prepare yourself for chance.

   Whenever we attempt to do something and fail, we end up doing something else. That is the first principle of creative accident. Failure can be productive only if we do not focus on it as an unproductive result. Instead: analyze the process, its components, and how you can change them, to arrive at other results. Do not ask the question "Why have I failed?", but rather "What have I done?"

9. Have patience

   Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906) is recognized as one of the 19th century's greatest painters, and is often called the father of modern art, an avant garde bridge between the impressionists and the cubists. During his life he only had a few exhibitions though his influence on subsequent artists was great as an innovator with shape and form. His genius, however, was not evident until late in life. He was refused admission to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at age 22 and his first solo exhibition was at age 56. His genius was the product of many years' practice and experimental innovation.

"When it comes to developing your ability to innovate, Ventresca recommends simply setting aside 30 minutes a week to talk with a contact you wouldn't normally talk to -- for example someone you met at conference six months ago.

Ventresca told CNN, "If you do that every week, that's 52 conversations in a year taking up 26 hours of time.

"Say 10 of those yield something interesting, and two of those 10 let you do something new and valuable -- by investing just 26 hours a year you've come up with something pretty remarkable." - Mark Ventresca is a lecturer in strategic management at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School

"I have been a witness, and these pictures are

my testimony. The events I have recorded should

not be forgotten and must not be repeated."

-James Nachtwey-

Terrorism

Genocide

Pollution

Neglect

http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/

A good friend sent me an article yesterday about German former teacher Heidemarie Schwermer. Heidemarie has been living without money for the last 13 years.

She is something of a minor celebrity in Germany having set up and organised a skills and goods trade scheme in Dortmund.  Her philosophy of life is based around the concept of trade rather than purchase,  Gib und Nimm (Give and Take).

Initially she was hoping to have an impact on the homeless but instead found the scheme resonating with the unemployed and the retired of Dortmund.   Heidemarie herself took things further than most by choosing to live without property and only a few possessions. She has been living nomadically since 1996 moving from place to place trading menial services for room and board and living without money.

People like Heidemarie show just what it’s possible to give up and still live happily in our material world.

She is admirable but is she an exemplar?

In truth I don’t believe she is, for me she offers an example from which we can learn a lot but doesn’t offer us a template. 

I think her mode of life isn’t one that masses of people could emulate. 

After all whose houses would they stay in?  

It is possible for a few people to live like Heidemarie but a whole society I don’t think so.

To me Heidemarie is like a modern day Diogenes of Sinope (greek philosopher who lived in a barrel). A humane cynic reminding us that people should be our focus and that we don’t need much in the way of material goods to be happy.

I'd be interested to find out what you think of her philosophy and her life?

Could we all really live in a world of give and take ?