This morning I was updating “The Practice” page at my website on Asian Energy Advisors. On sitting back and re-reading what I had made (here’s a screen capture in case for when I change it), my chest sank a little. I thought

and

and is this me?

Earlier this morning I happened to be re-reading a quote I had blogged about almost a year ago in a post entitled Identity, Profession, and Blog:

“As we soar over the edge of respectability … let us make a joyful noise and be glad of our excesses. Let us find a way to celebrate. Let us dare to strut our stuff and when we die, die laughing.”

Following upon, as it did, last night’s dinner with a group of friends that included Paul Morales, re-reading that quote brought to mind not only Paul’s work but a lot of artistically creative work in general - work that soars over the edge of respectability to get at things that are down-in-the-gut meaningful to us (not necessarily issues of great moment, but ones that resonate profoundly for whatever reason).

And this then brought to mind Aaron Potts who recently pronounced “My life purpose is not based on a passion for helping others” in a post in which he talks about having the courage to do not what others think you should do but what YOU think you should.

Four months earlier I had foreshadowed Aaron’s concept in a post entitled Existentialism 2.0 when I said that although I periodically want to change the world, what makes that significant is that it’s “not the reason I’m here.” It is, instead, something that I choose to pursue to make my life happier.

So what to do about the The Practice page on Asian Energy Advisors? I want to keep the site professional (i.e. concerned about others’ opinions) but I have a vision for Asian Energy - and it’s not being embodied very well in my new version of the The Practice page. I want to address that problem.