archival as lifestyle
In the being mode, remembering is actively recalling words, ideas, sights, paintings, music; that is, connecting the single datum to be remembered and the many other data that it is connected with.
Erich Fromm • To Have or To Be? (Continuum Impacts)
Remembering is active.
Any one memory contains multiple references to other memories.
In the old system, the question is: Under which topic do I store this note? In the new system, the question is: In which context will I want to stumble upon it again? (Ahrens, 2017)
leananki.com • Zettelkasten Method: How to Take Smart Notes
Ideas aren’t static or finished. They are energy, waiting to be transformed by the context in which it presents itself.
‘...she takes a stiff-bristled brush and loads it with a dark greenish-brown, the colour of first shade, and with sweeping movements, she covers the image with darkness, obliterating the lovers, sealing them inside a tomb of paint...it is all gone, hidden for ever, the only sign the scene was ever there the slight undulations in the paint’s... See more
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
From Maggie O’ Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait, describing Lucrezia painting over her paintings
In ‘Zettelkasten’ note-taking, each note/idea captured is organised in a non-hierarchical way.
This way, we are able to retain the purity/full potential of an idea, rather than file it under a large category which pre-determines and limits its usefulness
Building relationships between things is a form of authorship too.
Mindy Seu • On Gathering
Making connections between ideas (or curation) is a valid and robust form of creativity
This stems from the structure of the web — it’s a tangle of links, a jumble of interconnected ideas. It fractalizes our attention, nudging us to leave fragments of our mind trapped in open tabs like a thousand tiny horcruxes — open loops feeding off our attention until they wither away, replaced by our latest distraction.
There’s a bottleneck here:
... See morethesolarmonk.com • A Spacebar for the Web
How do you create context from a tangle of disparate ideas?
Collecting and archiving are ways to reclaim and own our attention—they are acts of meaning-making. These practices are rituals: habits and skills that demand time, patience, and a willingness to look beyond the surface.
To collect well is to resist algorithmic influence. A true collection reflects deeply personal values and a genuine desire to... See more
To collect well is to resist algorithmic influence. A true collection reflects deeply personal values and a genuine desire to... See more
Patricia Hurducaș • Archives: Anchors For Attention
Archiving / collecting requires deep and intentional awareness and attention
“The concept of the sacred and the archival is being lost because of the novel environment of the internet.”
-Eric Weinstein
The inundation of information on the internet means meaningful ideas get lost.