Life
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Regression in time
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1 min read
You’re part of an idea. So is every variety of human. One idea is that democracy is the best form of government. But we can’t hide its flaws. It still allows for bombastic celebrities to take charge. Humans are also part of nature. We are to climate change what the asteroid was to the dinosaur.…
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Textbook wisdom
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1 min read
Theories are productive ways of thinking even if they’re proven wrong. They lead to other research. Take the theory of evolution. The topic itself lends to all types of discussions around race, identity, brain and body development. Aren’t we all just pond scum who lucked out on terra firma? This is not to say we…
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The mind’s sense-door
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1 min read
There’s always a mismatch, between the fresh coffee and the taste, between the selfie and the mirror, and between the practice and the work. Our emotions and senses often dupe our realities. We expect to be satisfied up to the point of experience. But the war between expectation and matter simmers down to ambivalence. The…
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No one is normal
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2 min read
The environment that we live in intends to become a part of our mind. But there’s always a mismatch between who we know we are and what others expect us to be. Human beings are intricate. No one individual is alike. Mimetic thinking makes us feel worse, not better in the long-run. Conforming is like…
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Collecting references
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1 min read
Without knowledge, it’s hard to be curious. We need reference points to make connections and inspire deeper thinking. Give a teenager a car and a detailed Google Map, but unless they’ve got some training, they are going to increase the likelihood of an accident. Give a kid some crayons and some looseleaf paper, but without…
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Cold water courage
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1 min read
The quickest way to get used to cold water is to dive right in. The slowest and more painful way to get used to cold water is to go in gradually, dipping in each body part until it warms up. Most people take the gradual approach because they’re scared. As a result, they’re most likely…
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Dreaming from above
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1 min read
You can’t dream about the world from below. It takes climbing a hill, mountain, or riding up to the Eiffel Tower to look out and see an entire world below in your grasp. Writes Tomas Tranströmer in “Schubertiana”: “Outside New York, a high place where with one glance you take in the houses where eight…
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Embrace the void
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1 min read
Most people can’t stand to be left out the loop. The urge to know is what keeps them on their feet, building a knowledge base of facts that usually amounts to gossip. Ignorance is therefore a discipline. Just as we can’t do everything, we can’t stay totally informed either. Ambient awareness already cultivates more information…
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Genius is a balancing act
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1 min read
Said F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” The dialectic contains life’s truest serum. It is the remix of opposites, not the grab of absolutes, that fosters new ways of thinking. Genius…
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Maria Popova talks about writing for herself, creativity, and more on the Tim Ferriss Podcast
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2 min read
Below are some of the highlights of Maria Popova from her interview on the Tim Ferriss podcast. Some of the topics discussed include how to be interesting, on doing the work, and what makes a person creative. On being interesting “The key to being interesting is being interested and enthusiastic about those interests.” When Kurt Vonnegut…
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Self-scrutiny is the thief of joy
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1 min read
What do you for a living? It’s either the first or last question you want to answer at a dinner party. Any time you have to open up about a personal topic it burns the lips. Comparisons are natural, contentedness is artificial. Everyone acts happy but they always want what they don’t have. If you…
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‘Be the bamboo tree which bends toward the wind’
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1 min read
“Alive, a man is supple, soft; in death, unbending rigor. All creatures, grass and trees, alive are plastic, but are pliant, too, and [in] death all feeble and dry. Unbending rigor is the mate of death, and yielding softness, [the] company of life. Unbending soldiers get no victories, the stiffest tree is readiest for the…