Secular Mornings
@secularmornings.bsky.social
Homilies from the secular canon, every morning, 7-days-a-week
☀️ secularmornings.substack.com
☀️ secularmornings.substack.com
Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
— Saint Augustine
— Saint Augustine
In Praise of the Long View Pt. 2
Wednesday, March 5th
secularmornings.substack.com
March 5, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
— Saint Augustine
— Saint Augustine
What is the secret to a richer, longer life? It is the long view.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/in-praise-...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/in-praise-...
In Praise of the Long View Pt. 1
Tuesday, March 4
secularmornings.substack.com
March 5, 2025 at 6:09 PM
What is the secret to a richer, longer life? It is the long view.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/in-praise-...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/in-praise-...
The consequences of our actions are not measured simply by how they affect our lives, nor just the lives of those around us, but instead in how they impact the lives of all future generations, and whether they honor the effort of generations past.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-white-...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-white-...
The White Horse
Saturday, March 1
secularmornings.substack.com
March 1, 2025 at 4:06 PM
The consequences of our actions are not measured simply by how they affect our lives, nor just the lives of those around us, but instead in how they impact the lives of all future generations, and whether they honor the effort of generations past.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-white-...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-white-...
Greg Jackson expresses something I've felt but couldn't name: the unsettling emptiness when you finally turn off the noise. And not just silence, but the realization that you've been avoiding your own company.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/news-cycles
secularmornings.substack.com/p/news-cycles
News Cycles
Tuesday, February 25th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 25, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Greg Jackson expresses something I've felt but couldn't name: the unsettling emptiness when you finally turn off the noise. And not just silence, but the realization that you've been avoiding your own company.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/news-cycles
secularmornings.substack.com/p/news-cycles
They have taken with them to the grave their powers, their honours, and their errors; but they have left us their adoration.
- John Ruskin
secularmornings.substack.com/p/central-ga...
- John Ruskin
secularmornings.substack.com/p/central-ga...
February 19, 2025 at 6:30 PM
They have taken with them to the grave their powers, their honours, and their errors; but they have left us their adoration.
- John Ruskin
secularmornings.substack.com/p/central-ga...
- John Ruskin
secularmornings.substack.com/p/central-ga...
There was someone I loved who grew old and ill
One by one I watched the fires go out.
There was nothing I could do
except to remember
that we receive
then we give back.
- Mary Oliver
secularmornings.substack.com/p/river-clar...
One by one I watched the fires go out.
There was nothing I could do
except to remember
that we receive
then we give back.
- Mary Oliver
secularmornings.substack.com/p/river-clar...
River Clarion
Tuesday, February 18th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 18, 2025 at 8:42 PM
There was someone I loved who grew old and ill
One by one I watched the fires go out.
There was nothing I could do
except to remember
that we receive
then we give back.
- Mary Oliver
secularmornings.substack.com/p/river-clar...
One by one I watched the fires go out.
There was nothing I could do
except to remember
that we receive
then we give back.
- Mary Oliver
secularmornings.substack.com/p/river-clar...
So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf — seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life.
- George Saunders
secularmornings.substack.com/p/kindness
- George Saunders
secularmornings.substack.com/p/kindness
Kindness
Monday, February 17th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 17, 2025 at 10:17 PM
So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf — seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life.
- George Saunders
secularmornings.substack.com/p/kindness
- George Saunders
secularmornings.substack.com/p/kindness
We’re just as culpable in neglecting our own duties to alleviate suffering, and even in our everyday habits of shying away from uncostly acts of kindness.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/comission-...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/comission-...
Comission and Omission
Sunday, February 16th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 17, 2025 at 12:10 AM
We’re just as culpable in neglecting our own duties to alleviate suffering, and even in our everyday habits of shying away from uncostly acts of kindness.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/comission-...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/comission-...
Change is risky, and passivity is easy. But change is a necessary component of making our lives particular and real.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/particular...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/particular...
Particular and Real
Saturday, February 15th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 15, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Change is risky, and passivity is easy. But change is a necessary component of making our lives particular and real.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/particular...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/particular...
There are natural laws — laws of causality, yes, but also mathematical laws that are true in their own right but manifest throughout the world.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/higher-forms
secularmornings.substack.com/p/higher-forms
Higher Forms
Friday, February 14th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 6:55 PM
There are natural laws — laws of causality, yes, but also mathematical laws that are true in their own right but manifest throughout the world.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/higher-forms
secularmornings.substack.com/p/higher-forms
We don’t have to look others in the eyes, we’re often granted quasi-anonymity, and we’re constantly performing for everyone else.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/internet-a...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/internet-a...
Internet & Identity
Thursday, February 13th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 13, 2025 at 5:10 PM
We don’t have to look others in the eyes, we’re often granted quasi-anonymity, and we’re constantly performing for everyone else.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/internet-a...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/internet-a...
The patterns of human nature will emerge, however strange the world we create is, so long as we remain.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/online-vil...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/online-vil...
Online Villages
Tuesday, February 11th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 11, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The patterns of human nature will emerge, however strange the world we create is, so long as we remain.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/online-vil...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/online-vil...
I guess the impulse to record is born out of thinking that I’m seeing something really special — and as such, I’d better record it, or else I’m losing it forever.
But trying to run from that is futile.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-stream
But trying to run from that is futile.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-stream
The Stream
Sunday, February 9th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 9, 2025 at 9:10 PM
I guess the impulse to record is born out of thinking that I’m seeing something really special — and as such, I’d better record it, or else I’m losing it forever.
But trying to run from that is futile.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-stream
But trying to run from that is futile.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-stream
Our attitudes are less about who we are, and more about the environment around us. And our environments can change quickly.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/on-optimis...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/on-optimis...
Optimism and Despair
Saturday, February 8th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 8, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Our attitudes are less about who we are, and more about the environment around us. And our environments can change quickly.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/on-optimis...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/on-optimis...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/humanitys-...
One of the best things about humanity is that our capacities are made, not granted.
One of the best things about humanity is that our capacities are made, not granted.
Humanity's Wings
Wednesday, February 5th
secularmornings.substack.com
February 5, 2025 at 8:40 PM
secularmornings.substack.com/p/humanitys-...
One of the best things about humanity is that our capacities are made, not granted.
One of the best things about humanity is that our capacities are made, not granted.
Something I’ve wanted forever from the internet, and which theoretically should exist but I haven’t yet found, is a space that feels like being lost deep in the stacks at my university library.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/vellichor
secularmornings.substack.com/p/vellichor
Vellichor
Monday, February 3
secularmornings.substack.com
February 3, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Something I’ve wanted forever from the internet, and which theoretically should exist but I haven’t yet found, is a space that feels like being lost deep in the stacks at my university library.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/vellichor
secularmornings.substack.com/p/vellichor
February 2, 2025 at 6:55 PM
February 2, 2025 at 12:40 AM
To intellectualize the horrors of the world is to deny a part of my own humanity.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-unimag...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-unimag...
The Unimaginable
Friday, January 31
secularmornings.substack.com
January 31, 2025 at 4:57 PM
To intellectualize the horrors of the world is to deny a part of my own humanity.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-unimag...
secularmornings.substack.com/p/the-unimag...
The death of pets is, perhaps, one of the most regular (and visceral) reminders the world gives us of what it means to be mortal.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/unlike-snow
secularmornings.substack.com/p/unlike-snow
Unlike Snow
Thursday, January 30
secularmornings.substack.com
January 30, 2025 at 8:34 PM
The death of pets is, perhaps, one of the most regular (and visceral) reminders the world gives us of what it means to be mortal.
secularmornings.substack.com/p/unlike-snow
secularmornings.substack.com/p/unlike-snow