Rob Tourtelot
"Perhaps going in the direction of what we call truth is, at least, to 'unlie,' not to lie. Our lives are buildings made up of lies. We have to lie to live. But to write we must try to unlie. Something renders going in the direction of truth and dying almost synonymous. We cannot read about it, we cannot bear it, we cannot say it; all we can think
... See more“I am in my nightgown for days, not thinking about anyone else. It takes a couple of days just thrashing through the brambles to get to any type of clearing, and it’s very painful. It’s frustrating, you see all your limitations, but a lot of what is happening is the unconscious is just waiting to see if you mean it. I like it once I settle in, but
... See moreGrief, when it comes is nothing like we expect it to be. Joan Didion
“To make art, you have to have just as much doubt as you do confidence.”
note · by David Pennington on Chuck Arnoldi | Unintentional Artistry: A Surprising Journey
Being popular and well liked is not in your best interest… if you behave in a manner pleasing to most, then you are probably doing something wrong. The masses have never been arbiters of the sublime, and they often fail to recognize the truly great individual. Taking into account the public’s regrettable lack of taste, it is incumbent upon you not
... See more“I sometimes think of my journey through adulthood to date as one of incrementally discovering the truth that there is no institution, no walk of life, in which everyone isn’t just winging it, all the time." -Oliver Burkeman
On the Sublime:
In the presence of the sublime, we are made to feel desperately small. In most of life, a sense of our smallness is experienced as a humiliation (when it happens, for example, at the hands of a professional enemy or a concierge). But the impression of smallness that unfolds in the presence of the Sublime has an oddly uplifting and pr
... See moreKurt Vonnegut, talking about when he tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope:
“Oh, she says well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of b
... See moreSome prompts for thinking and writing.
You win $100,000,000 in the lottery. How do you allocate it?
Write out an average day in the life of you in 10 years. What makes it beautiful?
If you had to flee America and start a new life, where would you go and why?
You go back in time to when your great grandparents were your age. How would you explain the fu