Category: Reflections
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“Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.” — John Stuart Mill Years ago,…
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One of my many favorite Emily Dickinson poems is often referred to as “Forever” or Poem #690. I’ve always been particularly fond of her poems that deal with two of her favorite themes, time and mortality. But this poem contains a line that has haunted me since I first read it, not for its beauty,…
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“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” – Erich Fromm, German philosopher and psychoanalyst When I first read this quote some years ago, I imagined a scientist overturning a law of physics or an artist inventing a new genre. Back then, I understood the certainties that Fromm suggested as being something external, like…
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“Your value will be not what you know; it will be what you share.” – Ginni Rometty This quote was suggested to me by the Stoic journaling app I was suggested on the Apple App Store. It’s a guided journal app, which seems like it would be something I needed, since I have a whirlwind…
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“For when too large a proportion of the populace is supporting itself by the indirections of trade and business and commerce and art and the million schemes of men in cities, then the complexity of society is likely to become so great as to destroy its equilibrium, and it will always be out of balance…
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“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” – Rene Descartes How do you seek the truth? Do you try to verify what you already believe, or do you put your own beliefs up to scrutiny…
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“The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us.” – Paul Valery, French poet and essayist. French poet & essayist Paul Valery once wrote about how sometimes knowledge isn’t exactly what…
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The promise of the creator economy was, and still is, seductive. It offers a decentralized path: the freedom to pursue silly creative writing, to build a direct line to an audience, and to fund a life based on what makes me happy. As Substack essayist Henrik Karlsson put it, it’s “thinking on the page.” But…
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I want to focus on writing “good stuff.” What exactly does that mean? Find a formula that works, or ride the tried-and-true train to the bank? No, I just want to sit there and write something, then at the end of the day I feel like I said something good. Every day is different and…
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I think even the most devoted Swifities knew that one day Taylor Swift was going to put out an album that truly tested her fandom. But never did I want to have some very strong negative feelings about one of her records, and worst yet, critics and fans alike have already voiced almost my exact…