I started reading Essentialism
Space | Listening | Play | Sleep | Selecting
The rest is noise.
Also, The Pearl by Steinbeck. Highly recommend, like every Steinbeck.
"He had said, " I am a man," and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant he was half insane and half god. It meant that Kino would drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea. Juana, in her woman's soul, knew the mountain would stand while the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it. And yet it was this thing that made him a man, half insane and half god, and Juana had need of a man: she could not live without a man. Although she might be puzzled by the differences between man and woman, she knew them and accepted them and needed them. Of course, she would follow him, there was no question of that. Sometimes the quality of woman, the reason, the caution, the sense of preservation, could cut through Kino's manness and save them all." _Steinbeck
Duality. I contain Kino and Juana. An essence of the masculine and the feminine so poetic. I think we live in a gender fluid future in which we (the curious and adaptable) will each drown in an ocean and also reason and preserve. Each life choice and action can swing wildly between the feminine and masculine. Understanding is a tool.
I suspect the future will provide more and more enjoyable ways to experience life.
faster e-bikes
larger and more delightful screens
better drugs.
The citizens will accept this offering and come to expect higher thrills from human interaction than possible. Our tribal humanity will both dominate and rebel against this addiction ... unless ai cuts through that too. We live in intriguing times. The majority of western civilization might already be passed the crux. Doomed to robotic bliss.
I love the sun & the moon
the wind in the storm
the soft snow and wind violence
a gentle downpour and a proper one
Equinox | a time for harvest and removal, appreciation and setting sights.
The van has provided delicious fruit. Micro-community on wheels. So much abundance. Including a solid harvest of inspiration for what it might provide moving forward.
I have learned to let go of sunk-cost projects, but it's hard. Learning to de-commit.
Both harvesting and sight-setting in the realm of healthy inter-dependant romantic relations.
I got to reading the 8 core design abilities preached at Stanford's D-School by Carissa Carter
I "a designer."
Navigate Ambiguity | "the ability to recognize and stew in the discomfort of not knowing, and then come up with tactics to emerge."
Rapidly Experiment
Move Between Concrete and Abstract | "abstracting out for meaning, goals, and principles, as well as zooming in to define details and features."
Build & Craft Intentionally
Communicate Deliberately
"There is no way to precisely know how to make someone happy."
"What actually constitutes suffering or happiness is unclear."
"Therefore Kant argued, the only way to improve the world is improving ourselves. This is because the only thing we can experience with any certainty is ourselves."
"'Self-improvement' is the ability to adhere to the categorical imperative"
"Self-love and self-care, therefore, are not something you learn about or practice. They are something you are ethically called to cultivate within yourself. Even if they are all you have left."
_Mark Manson on Kant
"Buildings are never finished. They require constant maintenance and occupation to function well." _Dr Lucas
