By: Miguel de Unamuno, 1864 – 1936CARL GUSTAV CARUS - FAUST IN HIS STUDY, 1851Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedIt is night, in my study. The deepest solitude; I hear the steady shudder in my breast —for it feels all alone, and blanched by my mind— and I hear my
By: Robert Pogue HarrisonHow deeply do we live? How fundamentally do we live? Lying on the other side of the great stream of the Atlantic Ocean, America once held out the promise of a land on which to base a new ethos, or mode of dwelling on earth. No such luck. The oceans that separate also unite,
Poetry shouldn’t tell us what we already know, though of course it can revive what we think we know. A durable poet, the rarest of all birds, has a unique point of view and the gift of language to express it. The unique point of view can often come from a mental or physical deformity. Deep within us
“The further one goes, the less one knows.”Painting: Edward Lear“Forget safety.Live where you fear to live.Destroy your reputation.Be notorious.”― Rumi Read more
By: Rainer Maria RilkeText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedWant the change. Be inspired by the flame where everything shines as it disappears. The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much as the curve of the body as it turns away. What locks itself in samenes
By: John BurroughsNo other English poet had touched me quite so closely as Wordsworth. All cultivated men delight in Shakespeare; he is the universal genius; but Wordsworth’s poetry has more the character of a message, and a message special and personal, to a comparatively small circle of readers. H
By: David LernerPhotography: Harold FeinsteinText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedit's impossible that we keep breathing with all the years pressing on our chest it's impossible that we keep walking given the condition of the heart's terrain it's impossible that
Coffee and questions with Jiddu KrishnamurtiThe following is a transcript of Krishnamurti’s talk with college students, Brockwood Park - 24th June 1971. I hope you enjoy his subtle wisdom. How are you going to meet life when you have passed through here and are so-called educated? Do you want to be
By: Philip LarkinPainting: Emile FriantText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedWhen I was a child, I thought, Casually, that solitude Never needed to be sought. Something everybody had, Like nakedness, it lay at hand, Not specially right or specially wrong, A plentifu
By: Hermann HesseÉmile Friant“A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, the longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one's suffering, though it may seem to be so.
“I change during the course of a day. I wake and I’m one person, and when I go to sleep I know for certain I’m somebody else.” — Bob DylanFolk legend Bob Dylan celebrated his 85th birthday this week, so I just wanted to reflect a bit on his visionary views on creativity that have profoundly shaped m
By: A.D. WinansPhoto: Patrick StevensText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedIran, Iraq, Libya Africa, ethnic cleansing Bill Gates, Donald Trump And the Pope All selling their own brand of dope A mayor who is a joke A bus system that doesn’t work Head cases walkin
"I'm a fugitive, a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs." - Annie DillardThomas Merton wrote, “there is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.” There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meal
The wisdom of age constitutes the ability to accept reality, which is the knowledge of certain death -- substantial, personal, individual extinction. It no longer seeks to disguise the fundamental cruelty and terror of life because it is too weary for further struggle. It is not the acceptance of de
By: Erik Rittenberry“I don’t feel particularly proud of myself. But when I walk alone in the woods or lie in the meadows, all is well.”—Franz KafkaI’ve been to many enchanting landscapes throughout America. I’ve been blessed. I’ve rambled up the California coast, roamed the deserts of Utah, and chas
By: A.D. WinansPhoto: Homer Sykes, Glasgow, circa 1979.Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedSome people guard their lives Like a eunuch guards the Harem door Like a stock broker with A hot tip Like a banker who knows That the dollar will only Be worth half of wha
By: Manly P. HallPainting: William BlakeFew realize that even at the present stage of civilization in this world, there are souls who, like the priests of the ancient temples, walk the earth and watch and guard the sacred fires that burn upon the altar of humanity. Purified ones they are, who have r
"The human spirit is in prison. Prison is what I call this world, the given world of necessity." —Nicolas BerdyaevThe brilliant but sadly little-known Russian philosopher, Nicolas Berdyaev, wrote a profound book in 1916 titled — "The Meaning of the Creative Act.”In this philosophical work, Berdyaev
By: Edward Abbey"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.... A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them." But is it true that the mass of men
By: Wendell BerryArt: Winslow HomerText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedIf we will have the wisdom to survive, to stand like slow growing trees on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it... then a long time after we are dead the lives our lives prepare will live her
