Salman Ansari
@salmanscribbles
embracing my inner polymath — writing, drawing, coding, playing
Salman Ansari
salman.io
Perhaps the simplest and best definition of wisdom I’ve heard is “knowing what information is important.” This kind of knowing is not solely done in the intellect. Data is constantly being fed into your unconscious, then cross referenced against your experience.
thekcpgroup.com • The Attention Span. “Racehorses and Psychopaths.”
“These are the times in life—when nothing happens—but in quietness the soul expands.”
—Wilderness, Rockwell Kent
» From Advocate to Activist: Cheryl Alexander and the outsized influence of Takaya the Lone Sea Wolf
Kristen Weissprojectcoyote.org
I asked Cheryl what she thought was the most effective way to dispel people’s misplaced fears and animosity towards wolves, and replace it with awe and respect for life. She emphasized the importance of telling stories about individual lives like Takaya’s. Our tendency as humans is to glaze over when we are overwhelmed by numbers and statistics; but when we learn about the injustices faced by an individual, or the challenges they’ve overcome, we naturally build an emotional connection. Empathy takes root. That’s where real change can happen.
Kafka urges the young man to stay present with his difficult emotions:
Just be quiet and patient. Let evil and unpleasantness pass quietly over you. Do not try to avoid them. On the contrary, observe them carefully. Let active understanding take the place of reflex irritation, and you will grow out of your trouble. Men can achieve greatness only by surmounting their own littleness.
Writer and illustrator A. Kendra Greene on becoming an artist by listening – The Creative Independent
A. Kendra Greenethecreativeindependent.com
A poet asked me to illustrate a book, and I realized I don’t think I’m an illustrator—I think I’m a bookmaker.
I can relate. Since illustrating my own book, I’ve spent a lot more time drawing, and this has brought up opportunities to illustrate other peoples’ books. But it just didn’t feel right. I want to tell stories, and often they come to me in words as well as drawings, and I like to show both. I think that makes me more of a multimedia storyteller, than what we might think of as an illustrator.
Wilderness, Solitude, and Creativity: Artist and Philosopher Rockwell Kent’s Century-Old Meditations on Art and Life During Seven Months on a Small Alaskan Island
Maria Popovathemarginalian.org
That’s one hell of an endorsement!
Not often — a handful of times in a lifetime, if you are lucky — you come upon a work of thought and feeling — a book, a painting, a song — that becomes a fountain to which you return again and again, and which returns you to your life refreshed each time.
For me, The Little Prince has been one, and Leaves of Grass, and I Put a Spell on You, and Spiegel im Spiegel. Wilderness (public library) by the painter, printmaker, and philosopher Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882–March 13, 1971) is another
The best post on the ethics of AI I’ve read. Robin is a master of words, and has a perspective on AI that is sorely needed.