i see...i learn...i live...

The idea of a "cortico-thalamic pause" springs from General Semantics and was popularized in the Null-A science fiction books by A.E. von Vogt. It has also been called a Semantic Pause or a Cognitive Pause. Thalamus/Thalamic is here used as a shorthand for the lower brain functions, associated with feelings, sensing, pain, pleasure, instincts, bodily functions, etc. Massive sub-conscious parallel processing goes on there and responses are often immediate. Neo-Cortex/Cortical is the shorthand for the higher, more recently developed, brain functions, associated with conscious thinking, reasoning, language use, deliberate decision making, etc. It can do abstract thinking, but can't focus on more than a couple of things at the same time. We easily get in trouble when we mix the two. Our ability to abstract is rather new and apparently a bit faulty. The cortex might construct a "meaning" for some lower level sensations which gives rise to faulty ...

What have you learned about leadership from the team of people you work with at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries? I was very naïve about this, but people need good, strong leadership. Its value is underestimated. I foolishly assumed everybody is a self-starter. I tried to give everybody the vision that I wanted them to run with, and then expected the organization to run well. Years later, I realized how critical leadership is and how seriously I should’ve taken it. One makes mistakes, blunders along, and then thinks the work was just totally unnecessary. Was there a particular moment when you realized how difficult it was and how much people needed leadership? The first time something happens you say, “Oh well, it was probably the individual’s responsibility or they made the mistake or whatever.” If it happens the second time or third time, you say to yourself, “No, it’s not them. It’s the leader.” The leader has to lead well and lead properly, and you know, those ski...