CxD #271: The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse ❤️ + parenting guide for boys + what is natural is easily procured + Montaigne's life of imagination
I was reading a lot of philosophy the other day. Descartes and Spinoza and Berkley and Kant and fellas like that.
After five hours, I needed an escalator down from the tower of my head to return to the fireplace of my heart.
They’re not two, exactly, but they do occupy separate spaces or so it can feel like after a while.
I can’t tell you how good spending an hour with The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse made me feel.
There was so much love poured into making these drawings and little commitment to being clever, a gentle way of reframing the world.
Is it okay to become sentimental sometimes? Nostalgic for the simplest and purest of experiences?
Just friendship?
Just love.
Just kindness.
Yes it is.
Also: the mole loves cake so he was my favorite. 🍰
Parents! Do you have a young son you’re raising? Need some parenting guidance? My fave Liz Phair has a tune just for you!
I'm gonna tell my son to grow up pretty as the grass is green
And whip-smart as the English Channel's wide
And I'm gonna tell my son to keep his money in his mattress
And his watch on any hand between his thighs
And I'm gonna lock my son up in a tower
Till I write my whole life story on the back of his big brown eyes
When they do the double dutch, that's them dancing
I'm gonna tell my son to join a circus so that death is cheap
And games are just another way of life
And I'm gonna tell my son to be a prophet of mistakes
Because for every truth there are half a million lies
And I'm gonna lock my son up in a tower
Till he learns to let his hair down far enough to climb outside
When they do the double dutch, that's them dancing
3.
We regard being independent of outward things as a great good, not in order always to make use of little, but so that we are not inconvenienced when we do not have much; for they most enjoy luxury who have no need of it, and we know that what is natural is easily procured, while only vain and worthless things are hard to get.
~Epicurus
4. Over on Fire Philsopophy🔥, where we’re cooking up all kinds of juicy dishes made of life’s finest ingredients, Dale writes about Montaigne’s life of Imagination.
Your question for this Sunday morning: how imaginatively are you living your life? What color palettes are you using? Are you painting the same painting over and over? If so, are you proud of its style, its colors, its shapes? Does it capture some kind of light invisible? What other kinds of paintings might you like to create?