Uncategorized
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It is human nature to ponder anxieties that do not exist. The mind is a fabrication machine, developing worries before they deserve any attention. Wrote Carlos Castaneda in Journey to Ixtlan (Amazon):“To worry is to become accessible… And once you worry, you cling to anything out of desperation; and once you cling you are bound to…
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The link between praying and writing
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1 min read
When acclaimed South African novelist and Nobel Prize winner JM Coetzee was asked about the writing process, he compared it to the effort of praying. “In both cases it’s hard to say to whom one’s discourse is directed. You have to subject yourself to the blankness of the page and you wait patiently to hear whether the…
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Tomorrow’s World: Children in 1966 predict what the world will be like in the year 2000
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1 min read
Well-spoken, cynical, and eerily accurate, in 1966 these kids predicted what life would be like in the year 2000. Their predictions include: The rise of robots and job loss due to automation The threat of nuclear war Globalization and the destruction of cultures (note: they couldn’t have foreseen the backlash) Population and overcrowding Genetically modified…
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Enjoying the silence of GIFs
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1 min read
The mind fills a silent GIF with sound. The flags flickering in the wind, the lightbulb dancing at a Mexico City bar, to the whistle of leaves swinging outside your window. Living in the distraction era, noise is ubiquitous. Standing still, the decibels around turn up to match the horizon. But the calmer it becomes,…
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Walden, water, and wifi
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1 min read
One day we’re going to miss the powerful silence of the natural world, the way it smells and begs for an inquisition. That’s because “most people are on the world, not in it,” wrote the father of national parks John Muir. In putting a “fence around nature,” we lock ourselves into a secluded wall of…
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Social media companies as old storefronts
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1 min read
If Facebook’s recent newsfeed changes are any sign, social media is in decay. It’s gone from connecting people to Buzzfeed’s linkbait to a nest of echo chambers where the likeminded and bots spread fake news. The art done here by artist Andrei Lacatusu provides a metaphor for the chaotic and ruinous state of social media, which appears to…
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The London Milkman
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2 min read
Photographer Fred Morley staged the famous photo of a milkman walking through the destruction of London after the German blitz during the Second World War. That’s right – this photo was staged. Morley walked around the rubble of London until he found a group of firefighters trying to put out a fire amidst the fallen…
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Signalling anonymity
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1 min read
Your face and clothing signal your identity. Your DNA is one thing, your outer design another; fashion is the only element you can control. A winsome smile can be deceiving. On the inside, we could be a sufferer undressing the mind’s eye. There is no need to prejudge one’s possibilities, even our own. Wearing a…
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The Population Bomb
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1 min read
In 1968, Doctor Paul Ehrlich warned the world of its excessive population with his book entitled The Population Bomb (Amazon). “The battle to feed all of humanity is over,” he wrote, “hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death.” His trip to an overcrowded Delhi in 1966 seemed to convince him that there…
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Processing “reality” through the camera lens 📷
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1 min read
We must look at our surroundings with a keen eye otherwise every day just becomes transactional in nature. Writes Susan Sontag in On Photography: “Ultimately, having an experience becomes identical with taking a photograph of it, and participating in public event comes more and more to be equivalent to looking at it in photographed form.”…