CxD #269 How to Give Style to One's Life; Small Pockets; Best Idea + Mysteries
Unabashedly I advocate all readers to prioritize reading Dale Wright’s latest essay over at Fire Philosophy about using imagination to give style to one’s life. I’ve re-read it four times now, and since I’m an exceedingly slow learner, its depths are starting to reveal themselves. If I could only daily-remember to do 2 or 3 out of the suggested 7 practices, I’d become a much better Life Artist.
“I am increasingly attracted by the idea that there can be at least small pockets where life and character and beauty and meaning continue. If I could help protect one of those from destruction, maybe that would be enough.”
~ Paul Kingsnorth, encountered in the novel Sun House by James DuncanClick this link for one of the best ideas I’ve encountered recently. I won’t even offer a preview, as I’m curious how many of you read CxD with anything beyond a cursory pass.
Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, has given us a new gift titled The Mysteries. I won’t spoil this one either beyond this short blub:
“From Bill Watterson, bestselling creator of the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, and John Kascht, one of America’s most renowned caricaturists, comes a mysterious and beautifully illustrated fable about what lies beyond human understanding.
In a fable for grown-ups by cartoonist Bill Watterson, a long-ago kingdom is afflicted with unexplainable calamities. Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events. Years later, a single battered knight returns.”
I love the walk and talk idea, and how they put constraints on the conversation topic over dinner at night and how to make sure all the voices are heard.
That 2-3 person conversations start and end while on long hikes is well-known to me and indeed a beautiful aspect of spending time together.
My friend in Austin hosts men’s groups where he takes men into the woods for 4-5 day backpacking trips. I’ve been on one. It’s a beautiful method for deepening connections and getting into the body.