One of the fundamental choices that you face on Earth is the degree to which you’ll pursue deeper but riskier fulfillment or practice avoidance that exempts you from bad feelings but leaves you bereft of good ones.
We think we want things, but every desire points to a way of life, a kind of person we long to become. Objects seduce us not with their utility but with their promise of transcendence—status, attention, belonging.
Remember, people are often drawn to things that are done imperfectly. Whether it’s art, movies, or books, people tend to talk more about the flawed things that get stuck in their heads than they do the obvious, perfect things.
As Malcolm Gladwell says, “You want an aftertaste, and that comes from not everything being perfectly blended together.”
I think there are things in life that you want to telescope and compress and accelerate and streamline and make more efficient. And there are things where the value is precisely in the inefficiency, in the time spent, in the pain endured, in the effort you have to invest. And I don’t think we’re going to differentiate between those things. Because... See more
I have always loved and learned from @wendymac’s work. In the very early days of the pandemic, she was one of the first artists to offer free virtual daily drawing practice to everyone — especially kids — sheltered in place.
Posting her drawing practice as a small act of seeing.
It’s been... See more
The thing that no one ever tells you about your calling is that it’s boring. Oh, everything is interesting if you’re interested… shut up. Yes, it will be exhilarating and fun and fluid and and natural and meaningful. It will also be tedious. It will hurt. You will encounter obstacle after obstacle until you feel like you’re in a video game with... See more
Insights from Byung-Chul Han:
The rise of narcissism, the emphasis on authenticity, and shallow technological experiences are eroding essential societal bonds
We need daily and lifelong rituals to help bring narrative structure into our lives
In the past,... See more
According to Kierkegaard, when we first find life boring, we seek new delights. He called this the aesthetic stage of life. Kierkegaard focused particularly on art and the erotic, but the category obviously refers to much more. This is the time, usually in early adulthood, when people are most open to new experiences and opportunities.