Author Archives: robertpkruger

Happy Independence Day! Today, I don’t narrowly celebrate the liberation of the US colonies from Britain; I celebrate freedom itself. I celebrate you who manage to find education in school, and God in the Church or the Temple, despite those … Continue reading →

“An enlightened person seeks convergence in their thinking, not compartmentalization. They’re always looking toward the next synthesis.” So this seems to be the argument people are making against recognizing that science, politics, and art are separate modes — or attitudes … Continue reading →

I wrote this on Facebook on May 17th, but it’s still mostly relevant six weeks later. — I’m more interested in suggesting how we think about this pandemic than what we should think. I see a lot of people sharing … Continue reading →

When I was young, I had this idea of education preparing me for a career with established parameters, a kind of ready-made slot, and I really didn’t want to be slotted. “Writer” seemed like a good career, because it fit … Continue reading →

I spend a lot of my time envisioning the future. I’ve been literally invested in it for a long time. Almost exactly twenty years ago, I started an ebook company, a project based more on speculation than on hard evidence. … Continue reading →

To generate some grist for exploring the prison-maze of the mind, I’ll relate a few key issues in my life, starting with my ambivalent relationship to self-challenge. From my teens through my early twenties, I suffered intermittently from depression and, … Continue reading →

What’s driven my recent posts hasn’t really been a desire to criticize education itself. I’m groping my way toward the topic of despair and suicide, which is really hazardous to talk about, so I’m approaching it from a distance, setting … Continue reading →

Education, part two, on the topic of motivation, meaning, and escaping the mental prison-maze. When I was seventeen, I cried myself to sleep in the dorm at Lewis & Clark College. I wanted to be a writer. I’d had a … Continue reading →

Education. I think it’s appropriate to be at least a little dismayed by your education. I certainly am. Education should give you the keys to escape your unique prison-maze of the mind. Much of what you endure as “education” will … Continue reading →