Word: taylorisms
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...December 10, 1996, Harvard neuroscientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor nearly died. As a result of a cerebral hemorrhage, the left lobe of her brain was wiped out, causing her mind to lose most of its analytical functions...
Surprisingly, what would normally be considered a harrowing brush with death proved a transporting spiritual awakening. As a result of her stroke, Taylor found herself in a transcendental state, stripped of the burdens of normal consciousness. Freed from the need to worry or analyze, she attained something resembling the Buddhist and Hindu conception of Nirvana: a complete denial of self through the cessation of desire. After a long period of recovery, she now claims to be able to escape the demands of her left lobe at will. Living in a brightly colored house in Indiana, she serves as a prophet...
...this modern-day Buddha. Harvard is probably one of the most left-brained places in the world. Nirvana and self-cessation do not blend well with the hypercompetitive, ego-driven culture that is cultivated at this bastion of the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism. Before her stroke, Taylor was very much a part of the Harvard ethos, a neuroscientist who, according to her colleagues, displayed none of the mysticism that would characterize her future. But the tiniest of biological accidents changed...
Harvard students, more than anyone else, could probably use the reminder that our minds and our selves are not quite as essential as we might like to imagine. Whether Taylor is a Buddha or just a debilitated stroke victim, during this week of honoring personal achievement, perhaps we should all consider, at least for a moment, the extent to which the forces that push us ever-onward with seemingly infinite force are no more immutable than so many neurons, waiting for a blood vessel to burst...
...pioneered product placement in Hollywood, Warren Cowan's considerable influence was felt mainly behind the silver screen. As a publicist to the stars during a career spanning more than 60 years, he represented such Tinseltown titans as Judy Garland, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor. When asked to pick his favorite client from among the list of luminaries, Cowan famously replied, "The next...