Michael Dean
@michaeldean
Michael Dean
On looking — There’s an art and power to looking; when you can really see, and observe, and guide your attention to aesthetic specifics of something, it closes a thought loop. It’s centering, maybe even more than the breathe.
What if looking and breathe went together? For example; as I write this, I’m now focused on my peripherals, and I see my hand
... See moremeditation and
I got this comment in a Google Doc, and strive for this to be my north star in essay writing.
"I'm finding each paragraph so rich with revelations, saying yes, I hadn't realized this, but I agree."
This comes from battle testing drafts with “flash feedback.” I ask readers to comment as precisely as they can with—effectively—good vs. bad. Then after
... See moreon writing and
For a thesis to feel supported it needs material, the fusion of biographical details and cultural lore. These two modes are opposites: private memories vs. public domain. (The public/private element is common in architecture.)
By supporting your thesis with biographical details, you:
lodge yourself in the essay, making it something only you can write
thesis and on material
It’s all about the alchemical union of opposites. How do you fuse doing and being? How do you fuse making and dissolving meaning? Either alone brings trouble, but it’s the skillful co-existence of the two that create an infinite engine, a centripetal force to ascend the system.
alchemy and
Neruda’s 2 dictionary poems:
Dictionary, you are not a
tomb, sepulcher, grave,
tumulus, mausoleum,
but guard and keeper,
hidden fire,
groves of rubies,
living eternity
of essence,
depository of language
... See moreDictionary, let one hand
of your thousand hands, one
of your thousand emeralds,
a
single drop
of your virginal springs,
one grain
from your
magnanimous granaries,
fa
Came across my 2007 high school newspaper, something I don’t think I ever read before. It’s trippy reading this after reading my 2007 prompts from English class. I could barely shape prose, but these writers were surprisingly good. I knew a lot of these kids too, but now I see them through their writing. V weird.
If social media were to live up to it’s name, it could be the biggest cultural revolution of modern times. Instead, it’s reality TV.
“Productivity” is knocking out 50 unimportant things at 2x speed. What’s a word for doing the thing that matters that you’re scared of?
McKenna and Watts — how come some of the best thinkers aren’t as sharp in their writing?