Notes
Winterness: There’s a thing that happens in my mind when there is more darkness than light, and this year has been very dark. I’m having trouble thinking coherently, trouble managing the split screen between my life and the lives of humans, families, children, in Gaza, funded by the US; trouble holding in my head the cacophony of takes and opinions, so many of which don’t seem to be listening for the anguish.
A group of senators seem to be listening; I wish mine were among them (Senator Van Hollen’s statement is worth reading). The human rights organization B’Tselem has clear information.
continues to be an essential read.Hearts: The collection of people in this post are (perhaps it goes without saying?) an insufficient sampling of the hearts alive in my neighborhood. Some days I wish I could show, draw, write about every single person, get to know all the people that surround me. Other days I think it is enough just to see them.
Shapes: I am consistently astonished by the sheer scope of visual amazingness to be had just for the looking, the combinations of shapes and line and color that are everywhere. I have a sense that this kind of looking is an anchor that helps steady me in rough water. What helps you stay connected to the present moment?
Impermanence: While writing this post, I came across the Japanese philosophical concept of Mujō, which a doctoral student at the University of Hawai’i in 1984 argued is “[an engagement with] the impermanence of things in such a way that impermanence becomes a source, or ground, and condition for the understanding and appreciation of things, and for the realization of meaningful human existence.”
That sounded to me like an articulation of a feeling that comes as close to spiritual/religious belief as I think I will ever get. I wanted to know more, and I wanted to somehow connect it up with the shattering things that are happening in the world today. Could the humility of knowing that nothing is a given convince the powerful to value that which can’t be quantified or monetized, which is to say, that which makes us human?
Unfortunately, I did not find an answer. All that was available was the abstract of the dissertation I had found; subsequent delving into ontology, temporality and critical theory only made me realize how ignorant and confused I actually am. When I googled “mujō,” I found the term used by the following businesses: an omakase in Atlanta; a coffee-substitute “that levels up your productivity” with adaptogens; a puzzle-game app; an online digital marketing learning system; a massage practice in Boulder, Colorado; a Japanese housewares shop based in Perth, Australia; and a 2020 TV mini-series.
Thank you for being here with me.
A pleasure being here with you and reading/ seeing this wonderful post!