David Pennington

He took up this path not out of some particularly lazy disposition, but because of his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and understanding. ‘[T]o do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual,’ Oscar Wilde observed decades before Cioran.

Attention is first philosophy—

Philosophy is not only a system of thought but a mode of attentiveness, an exercised openness to what exceeds us yet calls us to deeper participation. Its systematic aspects are downstream of this attentiveness, and can certainly become a scaffolding by which others can train their own attention, but it is at its root... See more

If the reading revolution represented the greatest transfer of knowledge to ordinary men and women in history, the screen revolution represents the greatest theft of knowledge from ordinary people in history.

but, you cannot be generous when you need something from the world — and are always in resistance/conflict with it. you must give yourself permission to BE yourself, and to find your own freedom and creative self-worth independent of any external reception. to believe in your creativity enough to make art for no audience. through slow... See more

“If the machine can take over everything man can do, and do it still better than us, then what is a human being, what are you?”

When Krishnamurti (1895–1986) asked this question, he was an 85-year-old sage who’d spent nearly 60 years probing the mysteries of the mind, consciousness, and the need for a psychological revolution.

This doesn't mean all permissionless fabrications succeed. Most fail. But the right ideas almostalways start without permission. They have to, because permission systems are designed tofilter out anything that might change the status quo.This changes how we should approach problem solving.First, we must stop asking permission to solve problems we... See more

To put it in a nutshell: any idea significant enough to need permission is too threatening to thosewith the power to grant it

This obsession with the immediate “unburdening” of a thing you created is common in non-Japanese contexts, but I posit: The Japanese way is the correct way. Be an adult. Own your garbage. Garbage responsibility is something we’ve long since abdicated not only to faceless cans on street corners (or just all over the street, as seems to be the case... See more

how can my creative superpowers as an artist be channeled into giving extraordinary value and service to others, while sharing my ethos & philosophy along the way?