May 27th, 2020
Quote of the day
“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”
― Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere
We're only human

I hope this isn't too random or too obscure.
If it is, I apologise in advance.
We're human.
That means (and speaking personally) we think — constantly.
And stories, emotions and feelings emerge.
The waters are choppy at the best of times, but there's a strong inclination to avoid the crappy thoughts (or shove them down) and savour or encourage the good ones.
If that's not your experience, fine, but when I was growing up, no one explained to me that thinking was part of the human condition, how it might then operate over the course of my life and that it's a random affair, despite repeatedly being told that the apogee of life was to be (constantly) happy. And I clearly bought into this. Remember, one of the first personal development books I ever bought was "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. Can you imagine it? Thinking yourself rich! It's positively chortle-worthy.
One other thing that's rarely discussed is that we live in a subject (us)/object (everything else) world — i.e. it's dualistic. Imagine, though, removing the subject just long enough to opine upon the thing that previously we took for granted.
Take something as obvious as the things we see — e.g. clouds, the moon, the sun and all things in nature. Absent us, you might argue that there's just..., err..., well..., something, but you can't evince any labels.
( Collapse )My tweets
- Tue, 16:44: I've been off Twitter most of the day. And (sorry for saying it), I feel much better as a result -- not that Twitter's got any hold on me!
- Tue, 16:47: It's funny how, in the last two days, I've had two profound conversations about poetry -- yes, poetry. I think it w… https://t.co/pyWju38rTa
- Tue, 16:55: I've bought an old Remington typewriter off @ebay for £15. It looks a bit like this one https://t.co/pXmFAgZGuy. I'… https://t.co/DBsxy0bcjP
- Tue, 17:03: I hope the lockdown has made us realise that, at heart, we're all artists. Work? For me at least, that's the last t… https://t.co/tsrPOKv1W1
- Tue, 17:15: This just makes me cry. Sorry. To lose someone that special. Thank you as always @brigidrussell51 for sharing. _/|\_ https://t.co/pJaFKg04nr
- Tue, 17:18: This is for you brother @StefanPowell https://t.co/7gV56Xh84R. Cream was my late uncle's favourite band and you rem… https://t.co/y6cbBA4bPD
- Tue, 18:18: Thank you to @M_Z_Harrison for introducing me to the work of Gilbert White. I've just ordered The Natural History o… https://t.co/AIW0ODr8Of
- Tue, 18:25: About to start down memory lane with a bit of Terence Trent D'Arby. Anyone else remember him?
- Tue, 19:05: I rarely talk about my children. I share even less of them online. But they're the reason why I believe that we're… https://t.co/LisXnvqYkS
- Wed, 05:57: “In an age of speed, I began to think nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction,… https://t.co/G0FICQYWP4
My childhood
One of the first records I ever bought.
...and this
The rest?
Well, one day I might find a space to tear things up and apart.