You, the Knot

Rivers and roads and your friend Heraclitus — The road up and the road down is one and the same — Heraclitus There is a classic Grandpa joke that goes something like this: Back in my day, I had to walk uphill to school both ways! Heraclitus, here, is not being a grumpy Opa. No, no, no, he…

Allan Watts and the impossibility of self-definition — Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth. ― Alan Watts Try for a moment to look directly back from where your eyes are pointed. Don’t turn around — rather turn your attention backward. What do you see? Close your eyes and listen to the collection…

What to do while waiting for the check — Even Flat Earthers live on a globe. Strike out in a straight line: and only those with the most determination will arrive exactly where they left All of our conceits will eventually be proven false in the court Law. All of our vanities will eventually be ripped from our frantic…

But don’t worry — you have so many other skills! — Once upon a time, Socrates paid the oracle at Delphi a visit. His intent: To ask her where he could find the wisest person in Athens. Her reply shocked him down to his sandals. She proclaimed that it was, in fact, he, Socrates who was the wisest. …

but you don’t have to be — I sit in the waiting room waiting… impatiently I glance down at my phone, back up again, sigh, and close my eyes tight as if to wipe away my current situation. What is the point of booking an appointment at a certain time if the appointment is never actually at…

Why, when it comes to pleasure, less is more — As the Notorious B.I.G wrote, “Mo money, mo problems”. Perhaps we all grasp the wisdom of this on some level — and yet few of us give up the pursuit of more: more money, more sex more exciting experiences, more knowledge… The trouble is, of course, that more is never…

A baby sparrow, baby crows, and the limits of the human heart — Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil. ― Friedrich Nietzsche Our ideas about good and evil, about right and wrong, are often transcendent. What is right is right. What is wrong is wrong. Period. To this absolutist picture, evolution has added moral psychology — the actual…

Or why you should look up when walking — A few mornings ago I had my baby daughter in the carrier and was baby-dancing my way slowly about my neighbourhood while she snored softy. In my slow, bouncy wanderings, I happened upon a women standing beneath a large pine tree staring directly up into its branches. …

A case for lucid dreaming while awake — Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily Life is but a dream The Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi once dreamt he was a butterfly. The dream was so vivid, so life-like that upon waking he could not tell whether he was a human who dreamt he…