Things to come back to when I’m feeling meh

I am very affected by place. Actually I think everyone is. Probably more than they realize.

Our surroundings act on us. Some foster chaos, others encourage enchantment. Broad landscapes, beautiful artwork, and ancient architecture fill people with awe. Office buildings with drop ceilings and an unimaginative palette of gray, screeching subways, and... See more

Ritual prevents the ordinary from dissolving into invisibility. If you light a candle at dinner, the meal becomes an event. If you walk at the same time each day, it becomes more than exercise. Anthropologists will tell you that rituals function as technologies of attention: certain ordinary acts aren’t trivial, they’re the architecture of meaning.

All desire is a desire for being.”

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.