Great was that chase with the hounds for the unattainable meaning
of the world.
And now I am ready to keep running
When the sun rises beyond the borderlands of death.
- Czesław Miłosz
The good life
Ecological sustainability, self-sufficiency, community building, everyday wisdom
Well, if it's a choice between my personal interest and the good of my country, how can I waver? No one shall say Ninotchka was a bad Russian. - Ernst Lubitsch, Ninotchka
Habit #4: Real movies
When I am tired after a day's work, I open up my browser window and surf to Netflix or one of its illicit equivalents, to imbibe a mindless action movie that allows me to identify with a hero who slays its opponents with moral indemnity and righteousness. It is fast food for the soul, full ...
Urban sketch #3
On today's walk I go further than ever before: all the way to the Sky Park and the Sunset Park, two wonders of urban development right next to the neighborhood I live in since March. The Parks were formerly the world's largest mound of municipal waste, spreading an unbearable stench and belching forth methane, which ...
Urban sketch 2
In the library I see an old man sitting at a table and a large dictionary. I stand behind him to pick up a newspaper that includes New York Times articles I want to read because of the recent hydrogen bomb test in the North. The man greets me and asks what 'rags-to-riches' means. I ...
Urban sketch #1
...and then in the subway station something beautiful happened I was waiting for line number 3 to take me home and saw an older man at the vending machine going through his bag for some coins to buy himself a cup of instant coffee which tastes like yesteryear as I told him and he replied ...
Habit #2: Language learning
Habits seem to work better if you can divide them in smaller chunks that can give you an instant sense of accomplishment without taking up too much time. One very 'chunkable' habit is language learning. We have a plethora of resources at our fingertips, so I won't go into that here. Google yields all the best ...
Habit #1: daily summary of famous literature
Like most people on the Internet, I'm looking for better habits. The Scroll of Facebook and Twitter with its plethora of information and disinformation is an assault on the mind and eats up our time. Binging Netflix can be fun and is really effective to take your mind off of something, but it also messes ...