Curiosity

Ask more often: “What am I missing?” This is the doorstop to keep open possibilities from slamming into harmful assumptions.

We’re missing a lot. To keep our minds open when so much pushes them closed we’re going to have to talk with actual different people. This is the work. 

It feels good to confirm our impressions, sharpen our wit, tighten our bonds. But it feels even better, to find but not be confined to our groups, to invite a truer world in—fear, discomfort, and dopamine lollipops be damned. And bonus: it really can be easier and even more fun than you think.

Scottish sailors first talked about their “ken”: how far they could see to the horizon out on the water. Then writers began to use it to refer to the range of our vision, of our knowledge or understanding. To what our mind can see, and not just our eyes.

It’s weird to do a...