i don’t know, sam, i’m a puzzle.

we’re pretty confusing, we people.  i remember about a thousand years ago being in the living room of my parent’s house while an older teenager talked about how he spent one entire day asking himself about his motivations for each thing he did (or did not do) and how interesting it was to him the things he discovered.  he also found it interesting the amount of actions that seemed to have no conscious motivation whatsoever.

that’s stuck with me, the idea of the thinking behind the doing.

i always taught my students that “why” was the most interesting question they could ask, and the hardest.

so when i came across this quote, from the dalai lama, it all came to mind again.  he was asked what surprised him most about humanity.

we’re pretty confusing, we people.

his answer:

Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

*title from my favorite tv show ever.