The following is a decent approximation of how I feel about this blog:

I believe that someone who has been well-educated will think of something worth writing at least once a week.

—Gwern Branwen

Since I haven’t been writing every week that must mean that

  1. I’m not intelligent (unthinkable)
  2. I’m not educated (I do only have one Ph.D. …)
  3. I’m not motivated to write (that doesn’t quite feel true)
  4. I’m too busy to write (bingo)

That last one certainly feels true. When during the week do I have time think about, let alone write about, something? But, every business book I’ve ever read says that you are never too busy, you are just bad at managing priorities. In my case, I do think that’s true: I’m horrible at making and managing priorities. And that’s why I chose to memorize this quote from Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk1:

There is a pervasive form of modern violence to which the idealist… most easily succumbs: activism and over-work. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence.

To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence.

The frenzy of the activist neutralizes his (or her) work… It destroys the fruitfulness of his (or her)…work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.

—Thomas Merton, Trappist monk

  1. Incidentally, Trappista Sajt (Trappist Cheese) is sort of the “cheddar” of Hungary2—the default cheese, usable for most any occasion. Trappista Sajt is good, but I would really love some füstölt gomolya about now. ↩︎

  2. Though I believe these days, mozzarella is the cheddar of America. ↩︎