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Cute & pithy subversion of ”wherever you go, there you are”, the mantra that basically ruled my life for three years. Gave me recognition of agency that I sorely needed when surrendering myself to my circumstances and making peace with everything just wasn’t cutting it.
Happens to be the title of a short essay from All Things Are Too Small by Becca Rothfeld, an essay collection that turned me upside down, held me by the ankle, and shook me until a whole bunch of unquestioned Goods fell right out of my worldview, including (the subject of this essay!!) western meditation and the self control in pursuit of indifference that is its ultimate stated aim.
This essay in particular I think goes on for a little too long but hey!! Excess and indulgence in all things sex and love and thought and beauty and worldly items - each are handled completely separately and thoughtfully and wittily and I can’t blame her for making the words and passages themselves as lush and voluminous as their subjects reportedly ought to be. If you read it (I hope you do!!!) it’ll change the way and depth in which you think about Something and it won’t even be the thing you expect
Aug 8, 2024
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“The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and story collections and novels and dead people’s diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. These things are your becoming.”
-Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Dec 24, 2024
This one changed me, blending well with my Absurdist and Buddhist beliefs.
The thesis of Becker’s book is that human civilization is rooted in our internal defenses against the inevitability of death. We struggle to accept our impermanence and thus devise ”immortality projects” that we hope outlive us. If we must die, we hope to be remembered via some kind of legacy that will live on symbolically. These projects could be grounded in one’s work, family, or religion.
We seek symbolic illusions that assuage our death anxiety, or we drown ourselves with triviality and hedonism. Either way, our survival instinct makes it difficult for us to face the certainty of death and the uncertainty of life.
While the topic is heavy, shining a light on the terror of death, it also helps me feel lighter. It reminds of how many of the things that feel so urgent in life are really just distractions. Everything we do is beautifully temporary. Life is building sandcastles on the beach. And while it can be beautiful and meaningful for us to create and collaborate, there is a lightness to the understanding that everything we ever do or make will one day be nullified by our ultimate annihilation.
So, in other words, don’t take yourself too seriously.
Dec 9, 2024
A soulful celebration of things that are widely disdained and feared. The unknown, being lost, solitude, wanting, etc.. Feels like a warm wash over you that’s also energizing. A bit Rilke coded! Genre wise it’s a blend of memoir, philosophy, natural lore, cultural history, and art criticism.
Changed my yung life for sure. And inspired the fourth issue of my magazine =]
Mar 13, 2024
Top Recs from @merebear
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I am my mother’s daughter but it really does make you feel better. to feel more intentional about everything, even the space you occupy. What a dream
Jun 3, 2024
Parents fully genuinely called me a liar several times when I said I had never heard this. Trying to help others out so nobody else misses the same cultural moment that I apparently somehow did
Aug 8, 2024
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self discipline is important. I want to go home now
Jun 4, 2024