Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
As a young man, Wittgenstein himself started out by trying to define everything that could logically be stated—about everything else, he famously said, we should remain silent. But by the end of his life he came to conclude that there was no place to stand outside of our life, outside our language, outside our ordinary certainty about the existence
... See moreBarry Magid • Ending the Pursuit of Happiness: A Zen Guide
Robert Pirsig inspired a generation to philosophical reflection—and organizing their thoughts—with his hugely popular novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, published in 1974. In a somewhat less well-known later book (nominated for a Pulitzer Prize), Lila: An Inquiry into Morals, he endeavors to establish a way of thinking about metaphysi
... See moreDaniel J. Levitin • The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload
range of human knowledge today is so great that we’re all specialists and the distance between specializations has become so great that anyone who seeks to wander freely among them almost has to forego closeness with the people around him.
Robert M. Pirsig • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Thus the hero of the Odyssey is a great fighter, a wily schemer, a ready speaker, a man of stout heart and broad wisdom who knows that he must endure without too much complaining what the gods send; and he can both build and sail a boat, drive a furrow as straight as anyone, beat a young braggart at throwing the discus, challenge the Pheacian youth
... See moreRobert M. Pirsig • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
The Zen monk, the artist, the entrepreneur often lead lives so plain they're practically invisible. Miyamoto Musashi's dojo was smaller than my living room. Things became superfluous for him. In the end he didn't even need a sword. The amateur is an egotist. He takes the material of his personal pain and uses it to draw attention to himself. He cre
... See moreSteven Pressfield • Turning Pro
No question, no questioner, no-one to know ‘Who am I’, no one who needs to know it.
Kat Adamson • Sailor Bob
What you’ve got here, really, are two realities, one of immediate artistic appearance and one of underlying scientific explanation, and they don’t match and they don’t fit and they don’t really have much of anything to do with one another. That’s quite a situation. You might say there’s a little problem here.
Robert M. Pirsig • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Life is a process of self-reflection and problem-solving in a way that makes survival meaningful by increasing your level of mind to solve better problems.