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The "Proust Questionnaire"
Aug. 30th, 2014 08:33 amI mentioned the Brain Pickings site in my previous post, and they came up with another good idea for a blog post this week: what they called the "Proust Questionnaire", even though it appears to have been created by the daughter of a friend of Proust. Here's my attempt to answer the questions:
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Many of these questions presuppose that there's a single ultimate answer, whereas I find that the answer is almost always contextual: an answer that is right at one point in time may be very wrong at another time, or superseded by a better answer.
What is your greatest fear?
That I will mislead someone into a really bad decision with long-term consequences based on what I consider to be reasonable advice. At one point, I actually contemplated adding a legal disclaimer in my signature: "Advice is only dangerous if it's followed. Or if it's ignored. Or both." That's probably wise, but it would be tedious. So I haven't done it.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
A failure to think about the impacts of their actions on others -- or to understand the consequences, but not care. The greatest evils in human history have all come from that attitude.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Undoubtedly books. Shoshanna and I have actually seriously discussed spending hundreds of dollars (possibly thousands) creating a set of built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves for our livingroom (which has a 20-foot cathedral ceiling) so we could replace the sagging shelves of our aging "Billy" bookshelves from Ikea and find a suitable home for all our books. Really, we should just donate most of them by the crateload to a good cause.
What is your favorite journey?
This varies over time, depending on where my head's at when you ask the question. As a general guiding principle, my favorite journey is from ignorance to understanding. But sometimes it's a physical journey, like the time Shoshanna and I spent an hour sitting on the floor of the Kilauea and Kilauea Ikki volcanic craters in Hawaiii, just "being" in the moment and feeling the overwhelming sense of scale and power. Sometimes it's a combination physical/spiritual journey, like the time we visited an Aboriginal holy site in Australia, at the top of a ridge in a eucalyptus forest, with an Aboriginal guide. The combination of the profundity of what he was telling us with the most spectacular lighting I've ever experienced, was transformative.
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
A far shorter list would be what I like about my appearance. On a good day, I'm kind of pleased with my beard.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
That would be Shoshanna. Like all really intelligent people, she has the temerity to disagree with me, which can be frustrating. But if I were forced to choose just one thing from my current life that I could bring with me, sacrificing all else, it would be her.
When and where were you happiest?
Much like asking "do you prefer Thai or Indian or Chinese food?", the answer depends on my mental context. I've been nearly perfectly happy just sitting on a beach, watching osprey and terns dive for their dinners; after a spectacularly good coconut/red curry Thai dinner washed down with a really good microbrew ("Moose Drool", which is far better than it sounds) in Minneapolis; and having just finished reading a perfectly crafted story that was perfect for what I was seeking in a story.
What talent would you most like to have?
I copied these questions from Jane Goodall's responses. She wrote, "ability to learn languages". To which I fully agree, but with the footnote that languages shape and are shaped by the way people think. More than just learning how to ask for the location of the bus station, I crave the ability to understand how and why people are thinking and speaking the way they do.
What is your current state of mind?
Like Goodall, I have deep fears over our future. Some 25 years ago, when I decided it might be a viable idea to have children, I thought long and hard about the world I'd be bringing them into. Things looked fairly dark, but I was more of an optimist then. The past 25 years of deep-reading journal manuscripts on environmental science have convinced me that climate change is real, that we're responsible for it, and that we've long since passed the tipping point at which irreversible change is coming. I think it's past time we stopped talking about preventing climate change and started admitting to ourselves that we can't, and that it's time to start implementing "lifeboat rules". This phrase has a variety of definitions, but the one that's relevant here relates to the need to save as many souls as we can, without accepting ethical compromises that would make us not worthwhile saving as a species. I think that within my lifetime, we're going to see the start of the biggest die-off in human history. If we start planning now, we might save significant numbers of people. Sadly, I have no confidence that anyone with the power to implement such rules has the least intention of doing so.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
There are far too many answers, but one came right to mind: I'd love to have a better memory, so the facts would come more easily to hand when I need them and so that I could hold more of the big picture in my head simultaneously. I've got a good holistic grasp of most of the things I talk about, but that grasp suffers from an inability to muster the necessary details when required. An abundance of details all go into forming a gestalt, but 2 weeks later, all that remains is the gestalt, not the details.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I love sharing what I've learned about my work and life with others. I'm very proud of having spent years developing a reputation as a reliable voice in my fields of study and for sharing this voice. I try to speak at one or more conferences per year to share my blessings with others.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Believing that I've inadvertently given someone bad advice.
What is your favorite occupation?
In the "employment" meaning of occupation, it alternates between editing and writing. Whichever one I've been doing less when you ask the question. In the "doing stuff" meaning of occupation, reading is probably the best answer given the number of hours I spend doing it. But walking the streets of a new city or the trails of a new forest is way up at the top of the list, and I wish I could do more of these things.
What is your most marked characteristic?
The arrogance of thinking that my opinion is relevant, important, and matters. Often it does, but perhaps not as often as I'd wish.
What do you most value in your friends?
Their ability to tolerate and sometimes even enjoy my presence. I've got a good heart, but it doesn't always manage to reveal itself amidst all the crap it's embedded within.
Who are your favorite writers?
This always depends on my mood, and so varies depending on when you ask me. I could probably name 20 writers I enjoy, who are "favorites" at different times.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
I don't think I have any favorites; as in my response to the writers question, there are too many to name.
Who are your heroes in real life?
This will seem like an odd choice, but one of my current heroes who's worthy of a mention is Rick Mercer, a Canadian comedian and social critic. To me, he embodies everything that's best about Canada: gentle, self-deprecating good humor; a willingness to try anything if it will expand his horizons or make others laugh; what seems to be a genuine and deep concern about the thoughts of others, combined with an unwillingness to force his own beliefs on anyone else; the ability to eloquently skewer people in power who need to have a little air released from their puffed-up selves; and rage against injustice. (His "rants" are always insightful and, for my money, dead on target.)
What is it that you most dislike?
People who think they're so much more important than other people that they feel entitled to try to force others to adopt their beliefs. Usually with all the best intentions -- but we all know what the road to Hell is paved with.
How would you like to die?
Once again, I think Goodall's answer is a perfect fit: "Peacefully and before losing my physical and especially my mental facilities."
What is your motto?
Strive to understand, and to share that understanding with others.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Many of these questions presuppose that there's a single ultimate answer, whereas I find that the answer is almost always contextual: an answer that is right at one point in time may be very wrong at another time, or superseded by a better answer.
What is your greatest fear?
That I will mislead someone into a really bad decision with long-term consequences based on what I consider to be reasonable advice. At one point, I actually contemplated adding a legal disclaimer in my signature: "Advice is only dangerous if it's followed. Or if it's ignored. Or both." That's probably wise, but it would be tedious. So I haven't done it.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
A failure to think about the impacts of their actions on others -- or to understand the consequences, but not care. The greatest evils in human history have all come from that attitude.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Undoubtedly books. Shoshanna and I have actually seriously discussed spending hundreds of dollars (possibly thousands) creating a set of built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves for our livingroom (which has a 20-foot cathedral ceiling) so we could replace the sagging shelves of our aging "Billy" bookshelves from Ikea and find a suitable home for all our books. Really, we should just donate most of them by the crateload to a good cause.
What is your favorite journey?
This varies over time, depending on where my head's at when you ask the question. As a general guiding principle, my favorite journey is from ignorance to understanding. But sometimes it's a physical journey, like the time Shoshanna and I spent an hour sitting on the floor of the Kilauea and Kilauea Ikki volcanic craters in Hawaiii, just "being" in the moment and feeling the overwhelming sense of scale and power. Sometimes it's a combination physical/spiritual journey, like the time we visited an Aboriginal holy site in Australia, at the top of a ridge in a eucalyptus forest, with an Aboriginal guide. The combination of the profundity of what he was telling us with the most spectacular lighting I've ever experienced, was transformative.
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
A far shorter list would be what I like about my appearance. On a good day, I'm kind of pleased with my beard.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
That would be Shoshanna. Like all really intelligent people, she has the temerity to disagree with me, which can be frustrating. But if I were forced to choose just one thing from my current life that I could bring with me, sacrificing all else, it would be her.
When and where were you happiest?
Much like asking "do you prefer Thai or Indian or Chinese food?", the answer depends on my mental context. I've been nearly perfectly happy just sitting on a beach, watching osprey and terns dive for their dinners; after a spectacularly good coconut/red curry Thai dinner washed down with a really good microbrew ("Moose Drool", which is far better than it sounds) in Minneapolis; and having just finished reading a perfectly crafted story that was perfect for what I was seeking in a story.
What talent would you most like to have?
I copied these questions from Jane Goodall's responses. She wrote, "ability to learn languages". To which I fully agree, but with the footnote that languages shape and are shaped by the way people think. More than just learning how to ask for the location of the bus station, I crave the ability to understand how and why people are thinking and speaking the way they do.
What is your current state of mind?
Like Goodall, I have deep fears over our future. Some 25 years ago, when I decided it might be a viable idea to have children, I thought long and hard about the world I'd be bringing them into. Things looked fairly dark, but I was more of an optimist then. The past 25 years of deep-reading journal manuscripts on environmental science have convinced me that climate change is real, that we're responsible for it, and that we've long since passed the tipping point at which irreversible change is coming. I think it's past time we stopped talking about preventing climate change and started admitting to ourselves that we can't, and that it's time to start implementing "lifeboat rules". This phrase has a variety of definitions, but the one that's relevant here relates to the need to save as many souls as we can, without accepting ethical compromises that would make us not worthwhile saving as a species. I think that within my lifetime, we're going to see the start of the biggest die-off in human history. If we start planning now, we might save significant numbers of people. Sadly, I have no confidence that anyone with the power to implement such rules has the least intention of doing so.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
There are far too many answers, but one came right to mind: I'd love to have a better memory, so the facts would come more easily to hand when I need them and so that I could hold more of the big picture in my head simultaneously. I've got a good holistic grasp of most of the things I talk about, but that grasp suffers from an inability to muster the necessary details when required. An abundance of details all go into forming a gestalt, but 2 weeks later, all that remains is the gestalt, not the details.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I love sharing what I've learned about my work and life with others. I'm very proud of having spent years developing a reputation as a reliable voice in my fields of study and for sharing this voice. I try to speak at one or more conferences per year to share my blessings with others.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Believing that I've inadvertently given someone bad advice.
What is your favorite occupation?
In the "employment" meaning of occupation, it alternates between editing and writing. Whichever one I've been doing less when you ask the question. In the "doing stuff" meaning of occupation, reading is probably the best answer given the number of hours I spend doing it. But walking the streets of a new city or the trails of a new forest is way up at the top of the list, and I wish I could do more of these things.
What is your most marked characteristic?
The arrogance of thinking that my opinion is relevant, important, and matters. Often it does, but perhaps not as often as I'd wish.
What do you most value in your friends?
Their ability to tolerate and sometimes even enjoy my presence. I've got a good heart, but it doesn't always manage to reveal itself amidst all the crap it's embedded within.
Who are your favorite writers?
This always depends on my mood, and so varies depending on when you ask me. I could probably name 20 writers I enjoy, who are "favorites" at different times.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
I don't think I have any favorites; as in my response to the writers question, there are too many to name.
Who are your heroes in real life?
This will seem like an odd choice, but one of my current heroes who's worthy of a mention is Rick Mercer, a Canadian comedian and social critic. To me, he embodies everything that's best about Canada: gentle, self-deprecating good humor; a willingness to try anything if it will expand his horizons or make others laugh; what seems to be a genuine and deep concern about the thoughts of others, combined with an unwillingness to force his own beliefs on anyone else; the ability to eloquently skewer people in power who need to have a little air released from their puffed-up selves; and rage against injustice. (His "rants" are always insightful and, for my money, dead on target.)
What is it that you most dislike?
People who think they're so much more important than other people that they feel entitled to try to force others to adopt their beliefs. Usually with all the best intentions -- but we all know what the road to Hell is paved with.
How would you like to die?
Once again, I think Goodall's answer is a perfect fit: "Peacefully and before losing my physical and especially my mental facilities."
What is your motto?
Strive to understand, and to share that understanding with others.