Inside Job

Harrowings goes Deep!

While (we) were sleeping - this line from Don Henley’s “Inside Job” album’s title track released on May 23, 2000 could not have been more prophetic of the first quarter of the first century of the third millenium. We’re collectively asleep still, I’d say, for the most part, lulled into a state of stupefaction by our own choices - most of which are made by that part of the brain that is concerned with maximizing pleasure and avoiding pain.

While the deliberate manufacture of misery is not our intent - acting without mindfulness (that over-determined term) can - and often does - lead to unintended consequences. We are reactive rather than responsive to the events in our lives. Not only that, but we end up ascribing the cause of our suffering to be “others” - or due to factors beyond our control.

It is my contention that this is not necessarily so. We, ourselves, are ultimately responsible for the world we perceive - and how we actively choose to perceive it. Every action we engage in has repercussions. Every cent we spend is a vote for the kind of world we are co-creating. Every single thought that crosses our minds has the possibility of turning into an action and, in fact, thoughts are things.

It was shortly before Henley released “Inside Job” that Bob Dylan sent this tune to the director, Curtis Hanson, for use in Wonder Boys - a film based on the novel of the same name by Michael Chabon. “Things Have Changed” is the title. There’s a certain chillyness in the delivery. If we stop caring - if we are simply resigned - well, then what?

As I sit here on June 11, 2025, I am thinking of what actions I can take to help us all wake up to the way things have changed. The rate of change, we are told, is accelerating and it will not be too long before this world is unrecognizable. Having coffee with friends over by the Dupont Coffee Collective on Q Street this morning, I realized that none of us really have a clue - but we gathered to help each other get through our performances in “The Passing Show” and we are all learning and growing. Some of us are parents. We all have active lives. Yet we can find time to listen to each other. I don’t know. I know only how things seem to me.

What do you, dear reader, think?

I’m genuinely interested in reading your answers. We need to be awake and aware and act in ways that will help to move this world in a positive direction and away from the kinds of destructive behavior in which our species seems to so revel.

Onward!