With each day I become more certain of this: the general condition of thought here is clouded, and the fabric of life is simply being buoyed along by the fruits of industrial prosperity.
If you have true work, focus on that work. Then make connections carefully, based on perceiving a correlative attentiveness in the other person. Don't encounter by anticipative imitation.
There are certainly people who can master the easygoing, craven sensibility -- I think they're in charge now, and their ethical sense is, for the most part, none too strong.