My intention is to imagine, inspire, and guide economic system evolution into alignment with life, a metamorphosis transcending political division.
To some, an irrational, impractical, Quixotic waste of a life. Tilting at windmills, destined to fail.
Perhaps it is our definition of success that is Quixotic.
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it ought to be!”
— From Man of La Mancha, a musical play by Dale Wasserman, based on Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixot
SEARCHER
ECONOMIC PHILOSPHER | AUTHOR | TEACHER | FINANCIER
ABOUT
The millennium divides my adult life neatly in two: one part “career” and one part “search”.
After investing nearly two decades in the iconic House of Morgan building “career success,” JPMorgan was sold to the highest bidder (Chase Manhattan Bank) on January 1, 2001. The dawn of a new millennium.
Soon thereafter, with no plans in my head but clarity in my gut, I walked away. Like Melville’s Bartelby the Scrivner: A Story of Wall Street a century and a half earlier, my feelings about continuing another day were clear: “I’d prefer not to.”
Of the six sailors crossing the vast Atlantic together that summer—smashed and disabled by a Humpback whale—just one of us was reading Moby-Dick. Can’t make it up. The meaning continues to ripen with age.
The very first day back in Manhattan that fall to explore a new chapter, I emerged from the subway, coincidentally near Wall Street, to witness the second plane explode into the World Trade Center.
9-11 marked an end and a beginning, a ringing of the bell—for me, and for America. My future would unfold beyond my imagination—through struggle, through the shock of what I would discover. Then to awe, and finally, to purpose.
The search is ongoing, guided by synchronicities. Layers upon layers. And layers to go.
Read my bio here.
PURPOSE
In my search for meaning and purpose, Tolstoy struck a chord:
The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity by contributing to the establishment of the Kingdom of God,
which can only be done by the recognition and profession of the truth by every man.
May my humble journey away from the comfort of cultural expectations,
through deep struggle,
to the recognition of the truth, my truth,
and to my determination to profess and act on my truth in integrity,
constitute my purpose.
A modest, yet noble intention in this tumultuous time.
A time between worlds.
All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.
— Leonardo da Vinci
PLACE
I live in Stonington, Connecticut, an old fishing village with a rich history,
at the edge.
A watershed between two rivers
Where Long Island Sound, Fisher’s Island Sound, and Little Narraganset Bay, join Block Island Sound
and the great Atlantic.
Where Connecticut joins Rhode Island and New York in the distance.
What formerly was known as Pequot Nation.
The winter light delights in this place
There are no unsacred places. There are only sacred places and desecrated places.
— Wendell Berry
POETRY
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
– T.S. Eliot