Keeping ideas connected to reality so they can serve our lives in reality.
I Can Reach Any Star: The Beautiful Philosophy of Star Trek: Enterprise
We're going to stumble, make mistakes, I'm sure more than a few before we find our footing, but we're going to learn from those mistakes. That's what being human is all about. —Captain Jonathan Archer, “Star Trek: Enterprise—Shockwave: Part 2” (2002) Star Trek has...
Freak Out with Tom Papa
Are you ready for intelligent, benevolent comedy? Let me introduce you to Freaked Out with Tom Papa. So much comedy is cynical or mean spirited or just not funny. This one-hour routine from 2013 is a beautiful exception. Tom Papa: Freaked Out appeals to the...
Helen Keller’s Five Keys to Being Happy
Once I knew only darkness and stillness. Now I know hope and joy. —Helen Keller. In 1882, when Helen Keller was nineteen months old, an illness left her blind, deaf, and consequently dumb. For the next five years, she lived essentially as a wild animal in the...
Ira Glass on Closing the Ideal-Actual Gap in the Creative Process
Several years ago, while procrastinating in graduate school, I discovered a short video clip that helped me at the time—and has now helped me again. The clip, posted below, is of Ira Glass, the award-winning producer of the radio show, This American Life,...
Eleanor Roosevelt on Being an Individual(ist)
“Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one.” – Eleanor Roosevelt. What is an individual? The Cambridge Dictionary gives us a few definitions, the first two being: “a single person or thing,...
Freddie Mercury’s Smiling in Heaven
The sight of an achievement [is] the greatest gift that a human being could offer to others. —Ayn Rand. This week for Soul-Fuel Friday, I’d like to share three powerful performances by Angelina Jordan. This thirteen-year-old Norwegian singer recently...
Defining a Future to Fight For
Craig and I have just begun our first two (sold out!) sessions of the OSI course “How to Write Powerfully in Defense of Liberty,” and there’s a point that’s come up that I’d like to emphasize and to share with Level Up readers and contributors....
Secrets of Effective Time Management: Rolling with the Punches
Author’s note: The “five Ds” is an idea that’s been around for some time; here’s my take on it. I run two businesses, one of which sometimes has employees I need to oversee. I write at least ten thousand words every week, I do all the cooking in my house, and I...
Gardens Simultaneously Calm and Reinvigorate
With COVID lockdowns lifting throughout the country, I encourage those who are safely able to do so to seek solace in the great outdoors. Whether hiking in the mountains or lounging on the beach, the peaceful surroundings of nature can be powerful places for...