2005.09/22 Cornerstone Motivations

EXCERPTED FROM MESSAGE TO ALAN DRAPER

} Dear Kim,

Howdy Alan!

} I don't know if you remember me, but I went to school with you at Dracut
} High and in Junoir High School, if you can remember - which I'm sure you
} can - we were in "Mr. Rush's" class together.  You wrote a fantastical story
} about our class.  Why am I writing you?  I am not yet able to answer that
} question myself.  All I can say at this point is that you somehow invaded my
} subconscious - or is it unconscious? (I was a poor student of Freud).  In
} other words, I have seen you in my dreams several times and I can't quite
} explain it. 

I remember you, Alan.  What types of dreams has your subconscious been
bubbling up?

} At the moment, I'm living in Kazakhstan, in Central Asia, and am married to
} a Kazakh woman with two children - hers, and now ours.  I have a good deal
} of free time and, just for kicks, I started googling a few people from my
} past including you and I found your website.  I got a kick out of it, if
} that doesn't sound too corny. 

Wowsers!  How'd you get over there?  (And I'm glad you liked the website.  ;-)

} I hope I find you in good health and spirits.  I admire the life you've
} lead and the freedom you've seemed to procure yourself judging from your
} writings.  You were always entirely much more "mature" than us - and I mean 
} that in the sense that your mind was operating much more rigorously (and
} dazzlingly) for your age.  I'm sure this was due to your Korean heritage of 
} academic discipline as well as your "outsiderness" if I may guess. 

Well, my spirits are usually high, though my health could often use some of
whatever my spirits are smoking.  ;-)

} That said, and I hope I haven't made facile and perhaps erroneuos
} assumptions about your personage, but I guess I always wondered where you
} got your energy from.  What motivates you?  Where are you headed?  I ask
} this because I'm facinated by motivation in a strictly reductive sense.  I 
} myself have been belabored by this question and it has become the primary 
} stumbling block in my own attempts at fulfillment.  Perhaps you could answer
} this in your forthcoming obliloquis (I don't know if that's the correct 
} plural form of the word because I don't have my trusty OED with me - please 
} excuse).  

Wow, that's a pretty big question.  Hmmm... I'd say that the cornerstones of
my personal motivation are curiousity, creativity, and compassion.  I'm
intensely curious about things, and the world seems to provide a never-ending
stream of novelty for me to encounter and figure out.  The act of creating
something is very pleasant for me, anything from something physically made to
abstractly imagined; so I strive to make new things.  I also feel fulfilled
by helping others: a deep, wholesome satisfaction.

As for where I am headed, it's probably the same as Odysseus.  All I want is
a quiet private life with a happy family.... but I am likely to be drawn into
the public arena for a couple decades on a strange odyssey (to restore
democracy in America).  Your guess is as good as mine where I'll end up.  ;-)

How do you feel unfulfilled?  What is it that you want that you don't feel
you are getting?  How is it related to motivation?  (Btw, you may also want
to take a gander at the Pursuit of Happiness link from my website.  I've
actually done a great deal at quantifying the process by which people create
their own happiness.  If you can tell me more about your own situation, I
might be able to guide you to better resources.)

} Well, I think I may sign off for now - it being midnight in my part of the
} world.  I apologize for not including more about myself in this letter.  If 
} this note finds you and you're interested, I will be sure to do so.  For
} now, I will leave off with this simple greeting and curiosity and hope that
} it reaches a kindled reader. 

I'm tickled pink that you have written me, Alan.  I hope it becomes a regular
occurence!  ;-)

_____________________________________________________________________________
KIM E LUMBARD                    Web Page = http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~kel/
4 Stinson Ct Apt #2              E-Mail   = [Deleted due to spambots]
Cambridge, MA 02139              Mobile   = +1 (626) 429-4492
                                            or  MANIC ZIGZAG