Rob Tourtelot
@rtourtelot
Rob Tourtelot
GEORGE SAUNDERS: I think ultimately it would be, are you benefiting the people in proximity to you? And truly benefiting them. And that in itself is, how would you know?
EZRA KLEIN: Yeah, how would you know is, I think, often a harder problem that we give it credit for. Why in proximity?
GEORGE SAUNDERS: Well, I think that’s the place to start. And s... See more
EZRA KLEIN: Yeah, how would you know is, I think, often a harder problem that we give it credit for. Why in proximity?
GEORGE SAUNDERS: Well, I think that’s the place to start. And s... See more
Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews George Saunders (Published 2021)
The space between stories is an invitation to sit with mystery and the uncertainty it holds.
Niels Devisscher • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
Early in the journey you wonder how long the journey will take and whether you will make it in this lifetime. Later you will see that where you are going is HERE and you will arrive NOW...so you stop asking.
Ram Dass • Be Here Now
Most of the time there is a gap between the life we know is possible and the one we live. That gap appears as restlessness, pain, longing, fear, irredeemable loneliness, your skin crawling—some uncomfortable state.
John Tarrant • Bring Me the Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life
The legendary designer Paula Scher said, “I still [a little over 5 decades into her career] make things that are pretty awful. It’s part of the process. You have periods of tremendous productivity and other periods where you’re fallow. The fallow periods are really important because that’s where you’re figuring something it out. You have to work th... See more
Billy Oppenheimer • SIX at 6: Swiss Cheese, in the Heights, Wylie Dufresne, STORY, Owning Your Style, and the Fallow Periods
Imagine that you're passing a lazy afternoon at a sidewalk café on a mild spring day, sipping your drink, chatting with a couple of friends, and watching the cars go by. That's easy. In fact, it's effort-less: the cars just go wherever they go, and you're happily unem-ployed. But now suppose that for some reason you suddenly fall under the delusion
... See moreDean Sluyter • Natural Meditation
Much as working with a piano teacher is not, fundamentally, about learning songs, but about using songs to push yourself; I now think of our projects, not as ends in themselves, but as means to help us improve the underlying process and ourselves. This helps put me in the right frame of mind. I want this essay to turn out well, of course. But the g... See more
On limitations that hide in your blindspot
Typical open-ended questions are variations on “Tell me more” and “Help me understand better ….”
Roger Fisher • Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
“It’s against this background of seeking satisfaction amidst ceaseless change, that you can see how radical an act of meditation actually is—meditation is the act of calling off the search, it is the art of doing nothing.” – Sam Harris