Tag: philosophy
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When hearts and minds realign
We are exchanging advice, ideas, and information all the time, in effect trading minds with each other. Yet, within that knowledge transfer also oozes emotion. Stress is as contagious as a sneeze. If a family member or we bring tension home, it spreads like a virus to everyone in the house. The obstacle becomes an…
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Thinking things through
What we’re thinking of right now often feels of the utmost importance. Negative thoughts, in particular, turn passive onlookers into nervous inward-facing participants. The face twitch, lip biting, short breaths, full-bodied elsewhereness — says it all. The nerves light up like a Christmas tree, flaring internally on a rollercoaster of emotions. The brain gets stuck…
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Conformity as a preventative structure
The obvious remains invisible only because we choose to turn a blind eye to any framework that doesn’t align with our interests. Our minds crave homogenization. Even the misfits and activists who believe in no other cause than hope share tribal urges — there’s a strong instinct to join the pack. The herd outwits the…
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A test case of curiosity
There is no plan. We go through long stretches of time, just guessing. But the passage into mystery lures us forward. It costs nothing to try. The world changes—we change—when we live in the continuous present to see where it’ll lead us. As we dabble in life’s experiments, our efforts necessitate a kind of dream…
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Raging against the machine (us)
Writing is to rage against the machine, not the powers that be. It’s a practice that hollows out the anxieties within. The machine is us, and the blank page is the battlefield of emotion. Writing is a meditative process, a chance to pause and self-distance from the everyday. Prose allows us to exhaustively test society’s…
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Chords of inquiry
We remain emotionally uneven, driven by the vagaries of an electronically-fueled world tilted toward bad news. The external glow messes with our internal wiring, where even the illusion of reprieve bears zero hope. Yanked out of our public selves into private accountability, how do we cope with the torrent of life’s clutter? Facing reality is…
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Never enough peace
The world is a slow-methodical GIF loop that suffers from nasty jolts. The map is artifice; an illusion of safety that tempts the tyrants to remake boundaries. We spent two years social-distancing, at home hovering under flattened time and held together by screens of electronic bondage only to get invited to the worst party in our…
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Creativity is for the uncertain
Creativity is an all-in, imaginative process that prides itself on chasing the unknown. So we proceed in a random fashion, anticipating discovery through trial and error. Most people want to repeat what they ordered in the past. And they get upset when something new disrupts their banal yet predictable everyday menu. Certainty is too darn…
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A pace to play
The world is covered with assholes. How do we build the confidence up to shuck them without stabbing ourselves? At first, we take small risks. And then we let them compound into a catalog of fortified emotions. Drip by drip, the audacity of hope builds into a fortress of perspective. Once in awe of our…
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Nothing is mappable
Looking back, as if all the traits were heritable and therefore traceable. But nothing is so mappable. We contain a bundle of qualities that shift with time. As life goes on, what’s inherited yields to different flavors of personality. As Henry James put it, “Nothing is my last word on anything.” A new challenge is…
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Collecting and craft
Friction is the great stabilizer. We need just enough technology to enable creation while constricting our attention to the gusts of other content. The emergence of shiny new apps and devices often throws our work into disarray. Sometimes it’s the basic pen and paper (typewriter, anybody?) is all that’s required to induce focus. The same…
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A simulation of self
The neural synchronization between individuals — we can talk to each other without saying a word. The brain emits answers, and humans reap the rewards of non-confrontation. Silence is a form of communication. What we can’t signal is the reflection of our unexamined desires. Such remain hidden in the caverns of the dormant self, the…