Love & Work
A notebook about how we work, learn, love and live.
My own curiosity is led by an interest in collective learning and the fulfillment of the promise of human consciousness. Here, two days after the winter solstice, are some curiosities I picked from our commons this week.
Happy holidays. Happy Friday.
Origin Stories
Is Santa Claus actually a magic mushroom shaman?
Santa Claus and fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images
"How do reindeer fly Santa's sleigh around the world? If you guessed hallucinogenic mushrooms, you might actually be right.
"It almost sounds sacrilegious to mix psychedelics and winter festivities, but there's actually a fair amount of historical evidence that suggests modern Christmas was borne out of trippy traditions. From flying reindeer to presents and ornaments to the bearded man with the North Pole address, a ton of iconography overlaps with indigenous psychedelic shamanism in Siberia and northern Europe.
"Some historians argue that Santa Claus is actually a "magic" mushroom shaman, as indicated by his red and white outfit. It resembles the psychedelic fly agaric mushroom, a fungus as bright red as Rudolph's schnoz sprinkled with white flecks like snow. Drawing on this and other evidence, quite a few scholars subscribe to theories that numerous Christmas traditions spawned from pagan psychedelic rituals, even if it's not a mainstream belief.
"But how much truth is there to this hallucinatory history?" - Troy Farah
Article: The Strange, Psychedelic History of Christmas
How We Live
The essential role of aesthetics in human potential
Marc Chagall reviews his stained-glass work, Peace Window, installed in the United Nations building. New York, 1964. Photo by Lee Lockwood/Getty
"Aesthetic life is driven by cycles of imitation, expression, and sharing. But notice that you cannot do this alone. Aesthetic life requires another person – the one you imitate or who imitates you; the one who gifts you their song or who is open to your works. When we engage in aesthetic life in this way, we connect ourselves to others doing the same: we share with them, imitate them, or become imitable to them, receiving their aesthetic offerings in turn. When you live your aesthetic life well, you distribute and create new value that resonates with community: you imitate, express and share, and when you succeed, you become genuinely funny, stylish, playful, discerning, musical, poetic, quirky, bold or creative. In doing so, you augment the aesthetic value in the world by adding to it your own beauty – your riffs and tweaks, your insights and enthusiasms – thereby yourself becoming a source of imitation, expression and sharing. In doing so, you keep collective aesthetic life, our practice of aesthetic valuing, alive." - Nick Riggle
Article: Beauty is Not an Ornament to the Good life, it is at its Heart
How We Learn
"A belief in work: effortful, concentrated, purposeful work."
"If there was one thing Maria Montessori hated, it was play. She also disapproved of toys, fairy tales and fantasy. This came as a surprise to me. I had the impression – from the hippyish reputation of modern Montessori schools – that the essence of the Montessori method was ‘learning through play’. Indeed, this is the way her philosophy is often summarised, including by her admirers. When you read her own words, however, you realise that the foundation of Montessori’s methods was a belief in work: effortful, concentrated, purposeful work.
"In her view, the work of children was more focused than the work of adults. Many adults were lazy, working only because they were paid to and doing as little as possible. But in her schools, she wrote, ‘we observe something strange: left to themselves, the children work ceaselessly ... and after long and continuous activity, the children’s capacity for work does not appear to diminish but to improve.’
"The fierce concentration Montessori observed in children had much in common with what the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called ‘flow’: the state of being completely absorbed in an activity for its own sake. More recently, some psychologists studying children on the ADHD and autistic spectrums have used the word ‘hyperfocus’.
"For Montessori, this phenomenon was something that all children were capable of, as creatures of God." - Bee Wilson
Book Review: The Child Is the Teacher: A Life of Maria Montessori
Social Messaging
The stories we tell young people about climate change can be stories of opportunity.
Dr Hannah Ritchie is a Senior Researcher and the Head of Research at Our World in Data at University of Oxford. She focuses on the long-term development of food supply, agriculture, energy, and environment, and their compatibility with global development.
This week she posted an article on her Substack letter that cites depressing new research: more than half – 56% – of young people, aged 16-25 in 10 countries, said that “humanity is doomed” due to climate change.
"Three-quarters said that the 'future is frightening' due to climate change. And more than half thought they’d have fewer opportunities than their parents."
Why? In her view it is because of the stories we tell: "These feelings are not surprising. We’re hit with catastrophic headlines every hour."
"...As I outlined in an article in WIRED last year – Stop Telling Kids They’ll Die From Climate Change – we need to change this narrative. We need to stop putting that burden on our kids – not only because it’s cruel, but because it’s wrong and ineffective in helping us turn things around.
"We don’t need to pull the wool over their eyes. We don’t have to pretend that there is no climate problem. But we can and should focus on what we can do about it. Because we can do something about it. A lot.
"Importantly, it doesn’t have to come from a place of sacrifice. It can come from a place of opportunity. It’s not about cutting our lives back to the bare minimum to scrape by. It’s about using the changes that tackling climate change needs – abundant low-carbon energy, efficient transport networks, more climate-friendly diets, cleaner air, the list goes on – to build a better life for ourselves, others, and the other species we share this planet with."
Article: Young People Feel Like They Have No Future Due to Climate Change; We Need to Change the Narrative
Social Messaging
Emotional resonance, not cold statistics, will bring home the scale of the climate crisis—and the need for action.
Article: Storytelling Will Save the Earth
Economy
For big corporations, The Inflation Reduction Act “definitively changes the narrative from risk mitigation to opportunity capture.”
David McNew / Getty
"Late in September, analysts at the investment bank Credit Suisse published a research note about America’s new climate law that went nearly unnoticed. The Inflation Reduction Act, the bank argued, is even more important than has been recognized so far: The IRA will 'will have a profound effect across industries in the next decade and beyond' and could ultimately shape the direction of the American economy, the bank said. The report shows how even after the bonanza of climate-bill coverage earlier this year, we’re still only beginning to understand how the law works and what it might mean for the economy."
"... Even setting its arduous politics aside, managing climate change is a legitimately difficult technical and cultural problem—it’s going to require as many attentive and enthusiastic brains as possible, and the path to decarbonizing always required an infusion of new workers, investment, and good will. If you don’t yet work in the industry, but have always cared about climate change as an issue, well, this is your moment to get involved. These companies are going to need engineers, yes, but also programmers, accountants, marketers, HR staff, general counsels—there is space for everyone now.
"The fight against climate change is going to change more in the next four years than it has in the past 40. The great story of our lives is just beginning. Welcome aboard." - Robinson Meyer
Article: The Climate Economy is About to Explode
Conversation, Communication
After 17 years of listening, the folks who produce the NPR series, StoryCorps, know what makes a good conversation: start by asking great questions.
I am enchanted by the personal stories gathered by StoryCorp. They are touching because they are so real and authentic. And they are so real and authentic because interviewers are coached in how to ask questions that get people talking.
They've gathered dozens of these questions and filed them by categories like Growing Up, Teachers, Love & Relationships, and Parents.
This is a great resource for anyone interested in connecting. Why not use some of these prompts to initiate some deeper dialogs this holiday season?
Web Pages: Great Questions
One-liners
Last week I shared some year-end summaries and new-year predictions that were swelling my in-basket. Well, the hits just keep on coming.
Article: Science Magazine celebrates 2022
Article: 3 trends that defined circularity in 2022
Article: The best architecture interviews of 2022
Article: Monotype's 2022 trend report
Article: Predictions for creativity in 2023 with honest insight from industry leaders
Article: Marketing Brew's readers weigh-in on 2022 marketing trends
Article: Marketer's marketing predictions for 2023
Playlist
Questlove, co-founder of The Roots, performing in New York City in June. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Mythical Games
This week, Terry Gross, delivered a truly special holiday present: an interview with Questlove in which he shares his own Christmas playlist.
You can listen to the interview, with his contextual, cultural and historical comments, here:
Article: 'Fresh Air' Presents: Christmas with Questlove
Or you can listen to the whole playlist uninterrupted here:
Playlist: NpRxMas
Related Links
Article: The role of Christmas music in the holiday retail environment
Article: What makes popular Christmas songs so sticky?
Image of the Week
12/15/1969, New York, NY. The outdoor ad was one of several large billboards purchased in 11 major world cities to display John and Yoko's Christmas message for peace.
What's Love & Work?
Love & Work is the weekly newsletter by me, Mitch Anthony. I help people use their brand - their purpose, values, and stories - as a pedagogy and toolbox for transformation.
If you get value from Love & Work, please pass it on.
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