Date someone special from Big Sur, United States. What one thing?
What one single aspect of my life might illuminate the whole of me -- what one tiny piece of the hologram that contains the whole, what fleeting glimpse of what Buddhists call "buddha nature"?
What one single thing can I say about myself?
I'll start by saying I love being a father. My children are my only real treasure here on earth. I tell them that all the time. They live in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. I raised them in Teller County, Colorado.
I can also say I am married to my work.
My work defines me. I am a cofounder of a hedge fund. I love what I do.
I can also say I worked on Wall Street for many years before starting my hedge fund. Worked hard. Learned a lot. Laughed a lot. Great mentors. Great friends. Even some great clients.
And now?
I am a man who is tired, overworked, and stressed out.
I am ready to retire.
What one other thing can I say about myself?
I can say I want to retire, but these volatile markets won't let me. Right now, the financial world is in an "anxiety mode". It's not fair to my clients to quit right now.
The collapse of the euro dollar, a possible double dip global recession, and new tensions in the Mideast, etc. -- all conspire to keep me on the job.
What would I rather do?
My future ambition is to create a charitable trust or family foundation to support the causes I believe in.
What do I believe in?
I believe money is alchemy, and philantropists are alchemists for good.
I believe in not only in intellectual IQ, but also in emotional IQ and spiritual IQ? Spiritual IQ is what will save the planet.
I believe our economic system institutionalizes greed, our militarism institutionalizes hatel, while the media institutionalizes delusion.
What one other thing can I say about myself?
I love nature.
My cabin in Big Sur is an occasional retreat. I mostly live in San Francisco; New York, too.
At Big Sur, I love the coastal redwoods, the sound of the surf, the red-tailed hawks circling overhead, the proximity to the Easlen Institute, and the fact that Jack Kerouac did his best writing here.
I go to Big Sur so that I might "enter into the dream of the earth" (W. B. Yeats).
What one other thing can I say about myself?
I believe in love.
I believe we can vibrate with passion much in the same way as a violin vibrates during a J. S. Bach solo.
I still smile when I think of my last love affair.
I believe the need to love is stronger than the fear of being hurt in love.
I can say I come back to love not out of sorrow, but in wonder.
What one other thing can I say about myself?
I have an insane need for privacy, and that it always surprised me when people don't accept this about me.
I can say I am truthful, but not transparent.
I would rather you read my love letters than my resume.
I would rather have you look into my eyes than into my bank accounts or homes.
I would rather mirror you than have you look into the windows of my life.
I can say that if you can't accept my need for privacy, then we are probably not compatible.
What one thing can I say?
I can say that a few of my friends are really accomplished in the arts and that I envy them.
What else?
I believe language is a vibrant, malleable, living material. I love poetry and poets.
I believe we all are -- to greater or lesser extents -- broken, wounded, hurt, rejected, tired, sick, discouraged, defeated, detached, depressed, anxious, withdrawn, or ignored.
I believe that all beings suffer, and that I also believe this is the most compelling reason why we should be compassionate towards one another. We all suffer.
I believe miracles of healing lay ahead for all of us.
So...
Ask me that one thing you would like to know, and I'll try to answer.