December 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Philosophy is its own problem. Reality is absolutely fine without it.
December 23, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Philosophy is its own problem. Reality is absolutely fine without it.
This time of year, more than any, highlights how I hardly ever look back
or forward.
‘Best of’s’ and ‘goals and predictions’ bring into sharp relief how none
of these things ever cross my mind.
or forward.
‘Best of’s’ and ‘goals and predictions’ bring into sharp relief how none
of these things ever cross my mind.
December 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
This time of year, more than any, highlights how I hardly ever look back
or forward.
‘Best of’s’ and ‘goals and predictions’ bring into sharp relief how none
of these things ever cross my mind.
or forward.
‘Best of’s’ and ‘goals and predictions’ bring into sharp relief how none
of these things ever cross my mind.
Reposted by Thisness
Does it matter whether you pull the cart or push it, as long as it is kept rolling? You may feel attracted to reality at one time and repelled from the false at another; these are only moods which alternate; both are needed for perfect freedom.
December 22, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Does it matter whether you pull the cart or push it, as long as it is kept rolling? You may feel attracted to reality at one time and repelled from the false at another; these are only moods which alternate; both are needed for perfect freedom.
December 22, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Don’t worry. New stories and new forms of storytelling will emerge
whether we want them to or not.
whether we want them to or not.
December 22, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Don’t worry. New stories and new forms of storytelling will emerge
whether we want them to or not.
whether we want them to or not.
“I have nothing to sayand I am saying itand that is poetryas I need it.
— John Cage
— John Cage
December 22, 2025 at 6:32 PM
“I have nothing to sayand I am saying itand that is poetryas I need it.
— John Cage
— John Cage
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”
— Carl Jung
— Carl Jung
December 21, 2025 at 8:21 AM
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”
— Carl Jung
— Carl Jung
The first glass of Baileys over ice is just going down the hatch.
Christmas has officially started.
Christmas has officially started.
December 20, 2025 at 9:44 PM
The first glass of Baileys over ice is just going down the hatch.
Christmas has officially started.
Christmas has officially started.
Reposted by Thisness
When you look at anything, it is the ultimate you see, but you imagine that you see a cloud or a tree. Learn to look without imagination, to listen without distortion: that is all.
December 18, 2025 at 12:47 PM
When you look at anything, it is the ultimate you see, but you imagine that you see a cloud or a tree. Learn to look without imagination, to listen without distortion: that is all.
…it’s worth asking, from time to time: Am I describing the world, or am I describing what it feels like to have been young once and not be young anymore?
— Joan
Westenberg, Everything is Dead and We Killed It
— Joan
Westenberg, Everything is Dead and We Killed It
December 17, 2025 at 11:17 PM
…it’s worth asking, from time to time: Am I describing the world, or am I describing what it feels like to have been young once and not be young anymore?
— Joan
Westenberg, Everything is Dead and We Killed It
— Joan
Westenberg, Everything is Dead and We Killed It
Pain without suffering: https://thisness.one/post/pain-without-suffering
The pain of loss
That rich, dull ache in the heart space
Wave after wave of grief
Raw, unmediated contact with what is
Yet no suffering
With no ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘mine’
Suffering cannot flower
The pain of loss
That rich, dull ache in the heart space
Wave after wave of grief
Raw, unmediated contact with what is
Yet no suffering
With no ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘mine’
Suffering cannot flower
December 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Pain without suffering: https://thisness.one/post/pain-without-suffering
The pain of loss
That rich, dull ache in the heart space
Wave after wave of grief
Raw, unmediated contact with what is
Yet no suffering
With no ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘mine’
Suffering cannot flower
The pain of loss
That rich, dull ache in the heart space
Wave after wave of grief
Raw, unmediated contact with what is
Yet no suffering
With no ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘mine’
Suffering cannot flower
Simply beautiful.
We are so often taught that we should aspire to extraordinary things: to public recognition, to great acts of service, or great works of imagination or reason or commerce; and yet our humanity belongs in the little things, in the everyday ... https://thisness.one/post/2025-12-16-3
We are so often taught that we should aspire to extraordinary things: to public recognition, to great acts of service, or great works of imagination or reason or commerce; and yet our humanity belongs in the little things, in the everyday ... https://thisness.one/post/2025-12-16-3
December 16, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Simply beautiful.
We are so often taught that we should aspire to extraordinary things: to public recognition, to great acts of service, or great works of imagination or reason or commerce; and yet our humanity belongs in the little things, in the everyday ... https://thisness.one/post/2025-12-16-3
We are so often taught that we should aspire to extraordinary things: to public recognition, to great acts of service, or great works of imagination or reason or commerce; and yet our humanity belongs in the little things, in the everyday ... https://thisness.one/post/2025-12-16-3
Reposted by Thisness
Ordinary lives - a new post on An Open Ground: anopenground.com/2025/12/16/o...
Ordinary lives
I find myself at the moment unable to get away from a recognition that the impulse to the contemplative life is at bottom an impulse to an ordinary life. We are so often taught that we should aspir…
anopenground.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Ordinary lives - a new post on An Open Ground: anopenground.com/2025/12/16/o...
It finally hit me today that Christmas is only nine days away. Naturally
I leapt into action, put the kettle and lay on the sofa for a hour.
I leapt into action, put the kettle and lay on the sofa for a hour.
December 16, 2025 at 9:08 PM
It finally hit me today that Christmas is only nine days away. Naturally
I leapt into action, put the kettle and lay on the sofa for a hour.
I leapt into action, put the kettle and lay on the sofa for a hour.
Most people are exhausted not because they care too much, but because they care about too many things they cannot touch. They are spread thin across imagined futures, abstract enemies, and endless narratives. Presence gathers that scattered energy back into ... https://thisness.one/post/2025-12-16-1
December 16, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Most people are exhausted not because they care too much, but because they care about too many things they cannot touch. They are spread thin across imagined futures, abstract enemies, and endless narratives. Presence gathers that scattered energy back into ... https://thisness.one/post/2025-12-16-1
Most people have never lived outside the mind’s theater. They experience life almost entirely as commentary…as stories about what’s happening, what might happen, what should be happening, and who’s to blame that it isn’t. Inside that theater, constant agitatio... https://thisness.one/post/2025-12-16
December 16, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Most people have never lived outside the mind’s theater. They experience life almost entirely as commentary…as stories about what’s happening, what might happen, what should be happening, and who’s to blame that it isn’t. Inside that theater, constant agitatio... https://thisness.one/post/2025-12-16
Ouch: https://thisness.one/post/ouch
“Because most people mistake mental involvement for ethical engagement. They believe that if they are thinking intensely about suffering somewhere else…imagining scenarios, debating causes, broadcasting positions…they are being moral. They feel virtuous becau...
“Because most people mistake mental involvement for ethical engagement. They believe that if they are thinking intensely about suffering somewhere else…imagining scenarios, debating causes, broadcasting positions…they are being moral. They feel virtuous becau...
December 16, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Ouch: https://thisness.one/post/ouch
“Because most people mistake mental involvement for ethical engagement. They believe that if they are thinking intensely about suffering somewhere else…imagining scenarios, debating causes, broadcasting positions…they are being moral. They feel virtuous becau...
“Because most people mistake mental involvement for ethical engagement. They believe that if they are thinking intensely about suffering somewhere else…imagining scenarios, debating causes, broadcasting positions…they are being moral. They feel virtuous becau...
