The key points in this "speaking":
Everyone has a defining insecurity. We build our lives through exclusion of particular qualities.
 We think that if we say "no" to particular qualities, we can build a good life, a successful life, or just a safe life.
To be a human being is to be in direct and dangerous contact with time.
Perhaps there is something beneath time and eternity that makes this duality possible. But this cannot be thought (can be sensed, but not conceptualized).
We build identities based on exclusion so we don't have to dissolve into everything. Just as every person excludes traits from their identity—from fear and insecurity— so do professions.
In academia, that excluded fear/ characteristic is stupidity. Lately, I've been wanting to embody this shadow. Not stupidity as the opposite of intelligence, but rather as a spaciousness of mind, a wide unknowing.
Even though this blankness may seem to be a kind of stupidity, it's in fact the key to using intelligence (as a tool) effectively, holding paradoxes, and being willing to change your mind.
Other Notes:
Listener Insights:
What is the "no" that has defined your life? What "no" still defines your life?
If you want your insights to be shared (with your name or anonymously), comment on this blog post, email me, or answer the Spotify questions attached to the episode.