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Lovely reflection. I find a rational scientific understanding leads me to harmony with imperfection - imperfection is a moral judgement, but nature is finely tuned, honed in to an unimaginable degree to produce things like eyeballs and brains and complex cultures and ecosystems. Literally everything in nature is there for a reason, the product of billions of years of adaptation. If i were given the option of eliminating anything in our world l’m not sure I would. Because all that we label good is in complex ways dependent on all that we label bad. Consciousness comes often through suffering. Pain and fear protect us. Viruses allow us to exchange DNA with animals - a key source of mutation. I’m not saying the world is perfect, and I’m a passionate campaigner to make it better. But it’s with the humility that the way it is has been shaped by a far greater intelligence, and only when I feel connected to that do trust my urges to make change.

I loved this reflection, as I think it sits at the core of so much of the unfulfilled potential of our public service sectors. The blooming flowers of our academy might unveil truth and understanding, but often this desire for approval and acclaim turns it into what Herman Hesse called the glass bead game. Everywhere I go - the NGO sector, philanthropy, journalism etc, there's the same priority placed on status and recognition. And while it provides powerful ego-fuel for accomplishment, it often feels limiting of our true promise and potential, individually and collectively. What a wonderful thing to identify that and seek, individually and collectively, to become free of it...