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"Absence" by Alex Russel Flint

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Depression can be described sometimes as emotional myopia: you become too short-sighted emotionally, too focused on your own feelings that they get exaggerated and—no matter how insignificant they are—occupy all your attention.

إنّ الهُمومَ نساءٌ تَغار، فتَحجِبُ صاحِبَها عن همومِ سِواه. همومُكَ مِثلُ الغواني تُريدُكَ كُلّك، إنْ شارَكَتهُنّ فيكَ همومُ سِواكَ، تَحَرَّرتَ مِنْ أسرِهِنّ. يُشَتِّتنَ عَينَيكَ مِثلَ البغايا، ويَبنينَ حَولَكَ سِجنًا وجُدرانُه مِن مرايا، ويُمعِنَّ... حَدِّق بوَجهِكَ يا نرجِسَ الحُسنِ والحُزن حدِّق هنا واستَكِن وافتَتِن، بجمالِ الضحيّة

The traditional teaching method of “see one, do one, teach one” in surgical residency programs is simple but still applicable

Modern politics has reached the end of its tether. The modern political paradigm—that is, the body of political concepts and beliefs bequeathed to us by the philosophical movement known as the Enlightenment—is no longer intellectually tenable or practically viable. We are therefore in deep political crisis and confront the necessity for an abrupt and decisive change to a radically different type of politics. - Requiem For Modern Politics, by William Ophuls

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"Planning is everything, plans are nothing" - Dwight D. Eisenhower

That does not mean that planning is useless. As all generals learn, war plans never survive first contact with the enemy, but planning is nonetheless an indispensable preparation for battle. - Immoderate Greatness, by William Ophuls

I guess we believe that thinking is the one tool that can encompass the whole world and explain it. And only after explaining the world, we can find our way through it "safely" and "predictably." But we always forget that thinking is limited, and our intelligence is limited. And because of our human limitedness, we have no other choice but to take risks and to have faith that "things will turn out good."

Intellectuals Are usually stunted by their intellect. They over-think, over-plan, over-argue, and eventually they don't do anything.

Also related, but not so much:

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تصبحُ الحضارةُ أكثرَ لينًا وضعفًا بانتقالِها من عَصرِ الغِنى إلى عَصرِ العقل والفِكر. فالثروة تصيرُ وافرةً بشكلٍ يفوقُ الحاجة لما هو ضروري بل حتى لما هو تَرَفٌ وكمالي، ولهذا فإنّ الأموالَ الإضافية تُصَبُّ في صالح التعليم العالي والسعيِ نحو المعرفة، وهذا يَخلقُ تقدّمًا صادمًا في العلوم الطبيعية وبعضِ الحقولٍ الأُخرى. لكنَّ الجانِبَ المظلم مِن هذا الجوّ الثقافي المزدهر، وفقًا لغلوب، يشملُ أيضًا تكاثرًا وإسرافًا في "النقاشات والمناظرات والجدالات حيثُ يَنحرِفُ الشأنُ العام من سيءٍ إلى أسوأ وسط كل هذه الجدالات المتنافرة واللامتناهية التي تُضعِف الأرادةَ والرغبةَ بالتصرف." بالإضافة إلى ذلك، وما عدا في قِمة الهرم، فإنّ الزيادة الكمية في الإنتاج المعرفي يَنتج عنها عادةً إنخفاضٌ في الجودة (مثلما صرّح Gibbon برأيِه المشهور عن عصرِ الفِكر والمعرفة في روما، "حَشدٌ مِن النقّاد وجامعي الكتب والمعلومات والمعلّقين سَوَّدوا وجهَ التعليم، وانحدارُ العبقرية لحقَه سريعًا فسادُ الذوق.") التوجّه العقلاني المتطرف تجاه الحياة والذي يميّز عصرَ المعرفة "يُنمّي أيضًا بشكل لا-واعٍ بين ثناياه فكرةَ أنّ العقلَ البشري قادرٌ على حلّ مشاكلِ العالَم."

The civilization softens further as the Age of Affluence transitions into an Age of Intellect. Wealth is now available in such abundance that it far exceeds what is necessary “to supply the mere necessities, or even the luxuries of life,” so excess funds are poured into advanced education and the pursuit of knowledge. This produces “surprising advances in natural science” and also in many other fields. But, says Glubb, the shadow side of this flourishing intellectual climate is such a luxuriance of “discussion, debate, and argument” that “public affairs drift from bad to worse, amid an unceasing cacophony of argument” that vitiates “the power of action.” In addition, except at the cutting edge, the quantitative increase in intellectual output tends to bring about a decline in quality. (As Gibbon famously remarked about Rome’s Age of Intellect, “A crowd of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste.”) The excessively rational approach to life characteristic of the Age of Intellect also fosters “the unconscious growth of the idea that the human brain can solve the problems of the world.” - Immoderate Greatness, by William Ophuls