really interesting post -- one thing i take issue with early on "each of us individually and all of us collectively are on a never-ending quest to be in complete control of our surroundings." --

I think that this isn't universally human, it is American, or at most western -- there are plenty of cultures that take another tact.

Personally, my quest is not to control all of my surroundings, but to intensely focus a a specific set that I have carved out as important