Sara

This process is called sublimation; tonight the snow in the yard and the ice in the creek sublime. A breeze buffets my palm held a foot from the wall. A wind like this does my breathing for me; it engenders something quick and kicking in my lungs. Pliny believed the mares of the Portuguese used to raise their tails to the wind, “and turn them full

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Shortly before her untimely death in 1943, Weil—by then what could be described as a fellow-traveler of Christianity, someone lingering in the vestibule but never entering the sanctuary—speculated that just as “yeast only makes the dough rise if it is mixed with it,” so in the same way “there exist certain material conditions for the supernatural

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People who don't pause exist more in their head than their body. The mind is top-down, rigid, quick, enforcing an established view. The mind is waiting for the other person to be done so they can say what’s rattling around inside. The body is slower, needs more time, and then words bubble up organically, one after another, without planning. People... See more

To survive the deeds of the powerful, we must first understand our needs. Once named precisely, we can work more effectively to meet them. When you feel yourself enthralled by anxiety and fear, it is good to remember your needs. Then, if you can meet them, try to meet the needs of those you love. If you meet those and still have capacity, try to

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But friction is the teacher. It tells us where we’re stuck, and where we’re unclear. It’s how we build an actual perspective. And when we remove it, we lose the pause that allows deeper noticing. We lose the opportunity to make meaning through the act of making. What erodes isn’t just a single skill - it’s an entire network of disciplines that used... See more

Auditing can perhaps best be conceived of as fusion of PR and bureaucracy, because the bureaucratic data is usually intended to fulfill a promotional role: in the case of education, for example, exam results or research ratings augment (or diminish) the prestige of particular institutions. The frustration for the teacher is that it seems as if

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When you solve problems, you get customers. When you give people better stories about themselves, you build movements. When you give them something to defend, you create evangelists.

I feel sometimes as if I were a child who opens its eyes on the world once and sees amazing things it will never know any names for and then has to close its eyes again. I know this is all mere apparition compared to what awaits us, but it is only lovelier for that. There is a human beauty in it. And I can't believe that, when we have all been

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