The word 'experienced' often refers to someone who's gotten away with doing the wrong thing more frequently than you have.

We're all born with the survival instinct. But I think the true survivors, who get out of really bad situations, are ones who have lived in a certain way that directs them towards survival,

The plan, a memory of the future, tries on reality to see if it fits.

Well, where am I really? I'm 200 feet off the ground in a manmade maze.

What does brace mean, anyway? Brace. Such an odd word. It comes from the Latin brachium, meaning arm. It means, as its heart, to embrace. It was a hug. A hug good-bye.

But what is the way forward? I know what it isn't. It's not, as we once believed, plenty to eat and a home with all the modern conveniences. It's not a 2,000-mile-long wall to keep Mexicans out or more accurate weapons to kill them. It's not a better low-fat meal or a faster computer speed. It's not a deodorant, a car, a soft drink, a skin cream. The way forward is found on a path through the wilderness of the head and heart---reason and emotion. Thinking, knowing, understanding.