Howdy, pilgrim! You're in the ^zhurnal — since 1999, a journal of musings on mind, method, metaphor, and matters miscellaneous — previous volume = 0.9952. For the whole ZhurnalyWiki in experimental TiddlyWiki form, load https://zhurnaly.tiddlyhost.com/ (~20MB, may take a few seconds) – a backup snapshot is at http://zhurnaly.com/zhurnalywiki.html. For a static snapshot of the ZhurnalyWiki's 8,900+ individual pages, see http://zhurnaly.com/z/. For experimental insight-generation suggestions see https://insight.tiddlyhost.com ... Send comments and suggestions to z "at-sign" his.com — thank you!And see Insight Dice for a new experiment in Mindfulness + Nonattachment + Oneness!
"Against Panic: A Survival Kit" by New York Times columnist Margaret Renkl paints a beautiful portrait of Nature and its power to preserve, protect, and defend the spirit, especially in times of turmoil. Best brief bits perhaps include:
It's all about staying strong, long-term, to help repair the World ...
(cf Vastness, Equanimity, Selflessness (2015-06-04), Joko on Joy (2015-09-03), Tikkun Olam (2019-12-11), Most Beautiful Day (2023-07-01), Love for Imperfect Things (2024-02-12), ...) - ^z - 2024-11-13
- Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 07:40:17 (EST)
By John Green, An Abundance of Katherines (2006) is a delightful young adult novel – beautifully written, hilarious in places – about various misadventures of Colin, an anagrammatic teenage prodigy (but maybe not genius) and his friends. There's a wee bit of math (that could have been done better) and a truckload of fun, all served up with a splash of thoughtfulness and Meaning-of-Life philosophy. From the epilogue:
... And he found himself thinking that maybe stories don't just make us matter to each other—maybe they're also the only way to the infinite mattering he'd been after for so long.
And Colin thought: Because like say I tell someone about my feral hog hunt. Even if it's a dumb story, telling it changes other people just the slightest little bit, just as telling the story changes me. An infinitesimal change. And that infinitesimal change ripples outward—ever smaller but everlasting. I will get forgotten, but the stories will last. And so we all matter—maybe less than a lot, but always more than none.
... beautiful, hopeful, true.
... pona lukin, pona tenpo kama, lon
(in Wikipedia with many spoilers: An Abundance of Katherines — and cf Worth the Cost (2004-02-03), Easter Morning Musings with a Friend (2008-03-24), The Meaning of Life (2008-07-24), Lines of a Story (2017-11-28), Never Forgotten (2024-08-16), ...) - ^z - 2024-11-12
- Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 08:06:05 (EST)
andI think people need something just to concentrate on. There's something about — you know, when your life is sort of falling apart — you need to create a purpose in it for yourself, and if that purpose is quite small it doesn't matter, it's important — something tangible, something they can say, "Well, that's mine, I'm going to do that today!" — and it's it's worth getting up for.
andPeople say, "Oh, how beautiful", and you know it's not, you know there's lots of mistakes in it!
andLooking at the therapeutic benefits of knitting, it's not just the making, it's also the giving of a gift, giving away. The idea is that people just come together. The whole thing is, there's no right or wrong. It doesn't matter if you make a mistake. You make your bird, and you give it away, if you want to.
andMistakes can be undone. You can cover a mistake with a button or a crochet flower or something, so that the mistakes don't matter!
Oh, I've unraveled a lot over the years — well, knitting, and myself possibly! Would you like a coffee now, dear?
(New York Times gift-link and Youtube link — cf obituary of Mason Rankin, excerpt in McGs (2002-02-28), and Crochety Crochet (2011-03-14), ...) - ^z - 2024-11-10
- Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 07:26:06 (EST)
Much like the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, in the District Court on 2024-11-08 a series of diverse stories unfold — of justice and mercy, process and compromise, sin and redemption. Judge Amy Bills presides and:
Bottom line: it's all about the third phase of the Social Process: after Rules (aka laws) are defined, and somebody is accused of Breaking the rules, then there is an open, fair, documented, auditable process to Interpret and Apply the rules. Fascinating!
(i'm there in case i'm needed to testify about events witnessed on 23 Sep 2024, when a mentally disturbed person took off their clothes and stood naked in front of several houses in the neighborhood, praying and chanting for souls that they felt were in need of help – as it turned out, the person entered a guilty plea and is getting treatment; cf Opaque Justice (2002-01-29), For Great Justice (2002-12-01), Winter's Tale on Justice (2014-11-03), ...) - ^z - 2024-11-09
- Saturday, November 09, 2024 at 18:06:22 (EST)
R.I.P. Frederic Jameson 1934-2024 |
(for a dense sample of Jameson's writing about detective novelist Raymond Chandler see "Real Qualities of the Microcosm: Raymond Chandler in Los Angeles, USA") - ^z - 2024-09-28
- Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 07:38:47 (EDT)
"Malcolm Gladwell Holds His Ideas Loosely. He Thinks You Should, Too.", an interview with Gladwell by Emma Goldberg, brilliantly puts its key point in the title. Other excellent comments along the way:
(see New York Times gift-link to the interview, and here cf Science vs Stamp Collecting (2000-06-20), Retrospective History (2003-03-07), ...) - ^z - 2024-09-26
- Thursday, September 26, 2024 at 10:54:25 (EDT)
"I Wanted to Crave Him, Not Have Him", a New York Times essay by Lei Wang, pirouettes around a wonderful Chinese word: zhiji, written zhī jǐ with tones, or 知己 in characters. It literally means "know yourself". Wang begins:
One of the most intimate relations in Chinese culture is known as the “zhiji” — the “know-self,” one who knows you like you know yourself. This is a connection outside of any social role, something beyond even best-friendship, like a platonic soul mate. The Chinese describe the feeling a know-self inspires as different from friendly, romantic or familial feelings: It is considered a fourth kind of feeling.
It is friendship with a certain spark, but not quite romance — the ideal spiritual relationship.
It's a "Modern Love" essay, and Wang goes on to tell her own know-self friend-forever story, plus confessional-commentary on other relationships. She shares delightful philosophical asides, e.g.: "What we call platonic now was actually the highest rung of Plato’s Ladder of Love, which ran from lowly love of the earthly to love of the celestial — love in its most spiritual form."
Bottom line in one word: invariable. Like the North Star (see Shakespeare's Sonnet 116) or the compass-point circle-center (see John Donne's Valediction: Forbidding Mourning). People who are always there, and always here, for each other. One.
(cf Mantra - We Are One (2017-04-18), Other Significant Others (2024-05-07), ...) - ^z - 2024-09-20
- Friday, September 20, 2024 at 13:46:34 (EDT)
"The Sentinel" by Casey Cep is a beautiful profile of Ron Walters, civil servant, head of the National Cemetery Administration. It's long, inspirational, kind, and thoughtful. A sample from near the end:
… “He would’ve made a great priest,” Rosemary Williams, a lifelong Catholic, told me. “There are people like Ron who work in the federal government, and you can tell they’ve answered a call. Ron always makes me want to be a better person.”
… “People who come into contact with him are inspired, and, to me, that’s the mark of a great leader.” I experienced it, too, leaving every interview with him wanting to be the Ron Walters of my writing, the Ron Walters of my exercise regimen, the Ron Walters of my marriage.
Who among us doesn’t want to be better at everything? Not just our work, however momentous or mundane it might be, but every aspect of our life: relationships, friendships, health, hobbies, community, stewardship of the earth, everything. Most of us, thankfully, aren’t terrible at what we do. We’re okay or pretty good. But Walters reminds us: Why not be better? Why not be the best? It isn’t impossible; it simply demands our constant devotion. Perpetual care, it turns out, is not just for cemeteries.
(see Washington Post gift-link for "The Sentinel"; see "The Canary", another Post profile of an amazing civil servant, via this gift-link — and here, cf Among the Missing (2001-10-20), Memorial Day (2002-05-28), Mantra - We're the Best (2017-11-26), 2020-08-26 - Haiti Cemetery (2020-09-09), Fifth Risk (2024-09-18), ...) - ^z - 2024-09-19
- Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 08:00:45 (EDT)
Michael Lewis's 2018 book The Fifth Risk is well-written, thoughtful, and important. It's all about good government: how, thanks to dedicated civil servants, extraordinarily valuable services and products are delivered to the citizens of the United States. Unappreciated, patient people in the bureaucracy do amazing, creative things. Lewis tells their story beautifully, as he did for a single person (Chris Mark, Department of Labor) in his 2024 Washington Post profile-essay "The Canary". Powerful writing, meticulous research, excellent explanations, vital results.
And "The Fifth Risk" of the title? It's Project Management — and the risk is that ignorant, selfish individuals (and private organizations) will subvert the political process, break the mechanisms of competent government, waste or steal national resources, and ultimately kill people. It's scary, and it has happened in many societies, including the USA, throughout history ...
(see this gift-link for "The Canary"; cf MoneyBall (2004-06-07, Big Short (2011-04-24), ...) - ^z - 2024-09-18
- Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 15:53:41 (EDT)
from How to Keep House while Drowning by KC Davis, Chapter 6: "... your home is an inanimate object .... it doesn't deserve to be cared for. You are a person. You deserve to be cared for. ..."
tomo sina li ijo moli tomo sina li wile ala olin sina jan sina wile olin a! |
(semi-literally: "Your home is a dead thing. Your home does not need love. You are a person. You need love!") - ^z - 2024-09-10
- Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at 16:23:34 (EDT)
"You have to be smart, but not too smart, to put in the years!" |
(or more literally, "In the context of your working for a long time, you want to be smart, but you don't want to be hugely smart!")
sina pali e tenpo suli la sina wile sona
taso sina wile ala sona suli
(Chris Mark, as quoted by Michael Lewis in "The Canary") - ^z - 2024-09-09
- Monday, September 09, 2024 at 21:42:21 (EDT)
🥚
I am only an egg.
mi sike mama taso |
(from Robert A Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land; cf Hurry Patiently (2008-12-14), Waiting Is (2011-01-17), Brightly, Brightly, and with Beauty (2012-06-25), Pure Waiting (2023-06-23), ...) - ^z - 2024-09-06
- Friday, September 06, 2024 at 08:08:42 (EDT)
There are two ways to feel rich. Have more. Want less. |
pilin sina li jo e mani mute la nasin tu li lon o jo e mute o wile e lili |
(cf More Fun Less Stuff (2002-10-01), ...) - ^z - 2024-09-04
- Wednesday, September 04, 2024 at 11:28:13 (EDT)
"Rest is a Right,
not a Reward!"
If you need Rest, then Rest
Others may not take that away
Rest is good
sina wile lape la o lape
jan ante li ken ala weka e ni
lape li pona
(cf Chapter 24 of How to Keep House while Drowning by KC Davis) - ^z - 2024-09-02
- Tuesday, September 03, 2024 at 13:56:52 (EDT)
🌱
🌱
The Smallest Good Is as Good as the Greatest Good |
🌱
pona lili li pona suli pona suli li pona sewi |
(cf How to Keep House while Drowning by KC Davis, Chapter 22: "Good enough is perfect.") - ^z - 2024-08-30
- Friday, August 30, 2024 at 07:33:36 (EDT)
💕
Things don't have meaning. People have meaning. |
💕
ijo li jo ala e kon jan li jo e kon |
(cf How to Keep House while Drowning by KC Davis, Chapter 5: "... care tasks are morally neutral, mess has no inherent meaning. ... Dishes cannot make meaning—only people can.") - ^z - 2024-08-29
- Thursday, August 29, 2024 at 09:56:05 (EDT)
💖
o pana e pona tawa sina pi tenpo kama |
💖
Be Kind to Your Future Self! |
(cf Chapter 2 of How to Keep House while Drowning by KC Davis) - ^z - 2024-08-28
- Wednesday, August 28, 2024 at 08:09:41 (EDT)
o olin sina |
Love thyself! — or perhaps, as said by KC Davis in How to Keep House While Drowning: "Self-compassion is key"!
^z - 2024-08-27
- Tuesday, August 27, 2024 at 08:37:47 (EDT)
lawa open kulupu |
An enigmatic mantra from the Insight Dice — perhaps suggesting:
... that last possibility echoes an observation by Michael Kimmelman (NY Times music critic, in Creative Devices): "Bach, whose music has the most rules, also gives the most freedom, a paradoxical quality of creativity."
^z - 2024-08-26
- Monday, August 26, 2024 at 16:18:01 (EDT)
Feeling deep sympathy
— without taking in pain
Serving one another
— without anything in return
Helping the needy
— without removing responsibility
Forgiving the guilty
— without approving the sin
🙌
(cf Carrying Our Own Stuff (2017-01-17), ...) - ^z - 2024-08-23
- Saturday, August 24, 2024 at 05:51:05 (EDT)
Mind your heart.
Spend time with friends.
Know that you are loved!
or in Toki Pona:
💖
o lukin tawa pilin sina
o awen lon jan pona sina
o sona e olin tawa sina
(with special thanks to Dr 🌙 !) - ^z - 2024-08-22
- Thursday, August 22, 2024 at 08:32:55 (EDT)
When a bell stops ringing
At the moment a door closes
Between night and day
In the space between thoughts
Breathe
(cf Between (2009-12-10), ...) - ^z - 2024-08-13
- Wednesday, August 14, 2024 at 15:53:50 (EDT)
A nation named not for a person,
Not for a tribe, but for a concept — unity
Like a partnership, a marriage
A mathematical set, a team
Together
One
^z - 2024-08-12
- Tuesday, August 13, 2024 at 08:04:46 (EDT)
Because — just because
Everything has a cause
And that cause has a cause before it
Back to the very beginning —
Or if there's a loop without a beginning,
Then the cause applies to the whole loop
Why?
Because — just because
^z - 2024-08-11
- Monday, August 12, 2024 at 10:17:59 (EDT)
🙉
Illusion or delusion?
Is there any choice?
Compulsion or decision?
Oh shush, Inner Voice!
^z - 2024-08-09
- Sunday, August 11, 2024 at 12:59:56 (EDT)
All that is:
Future, past
Outside, within
Tiny, vast
Glacial-slow
Atomic-fast
Below, above
First and last!
^z - 2024-08-08
- Friday, August 09, 2024 at 08:55:37 (EDT)
🪺
Invisible bands
Together we run
Hands take hands
Two become one
^z - 2024-08-07
- Thursday, August 08, 2024 at 09:33:37 (EDT)
Pure seeing
Perfect hearing
Sensing what is
Without labels
Without judgment
Without choice
Only present
(cf Attention, Attention, Attention (2015-03-03), Bare Attention (2016-06-20), Attention Means Attention (2019-09-18), ...) - ^z - 2024-08-05
- Wednesday, August 07, 2024 at 10:08:35 (EDT)
Invisible ropes
Bind us together
Hold us back
Pull us forward
Rescue us when we fall
Carry words between us
Lead us through darkness
Until the day we
Cut the ropes
And go solo
^z - 2024-08-04
- Monday, August 05, 2024 at 07:51:09 (EDT)
For back issues of the ^zhurnal see Volumes v.01 (April-May 1999), v.02 (May-July 1999), v.03 (July-September 1999), v.04 (September-November 1999), v.05 (November 1999 - January 2000), v.06 (January-March 2000), v.07 (March-May 2000), v.08 (May-June 2000), v.09 (June-July 2000), v.10 (August-October 2000), v.11 (October-December 2000), v.12 (December 2000 - February 2001), v.13 (February-April 2001), v.14 (April-June 2001), 0.15 (June-August 2001), 0.16 (August-September 2001), 0.17 (September-November 2001), 0.18 (November-December 2001), 0.19 (December 2001 - February 2002), 0.20 (February-April 2002), 0.21 (April-May 2002), 0.22 (May-July 2002), 0.23 (July-September 2002), 0.24 (September-October 2002), 0.25 (October-November 2002), 0.26 (November 2002 - January 2003), 0.27 (January-February 2003), 0.28 (February-April 2003), 0.29 (April-June 2003), 0.30 (June-July 2003), 0.31 (July-September 2003), 0.32 (September-October 2003), 0.33 (October-November 2003), 0.34 (November 2003 - January 2004), 0.35 (January-February 2004), 0.36 (February-March 2004), 0.37 (March-April 2004), 0.38 (April-June 2004), 0.39 (June-July 2004), 0.40 (July-August 2004), 0.41 (August-September 2004), 0.42 (September-November 2004), 0.43 (November-December 2004), 0.44 (December 2004 - February 2005), 0.45 (February-March 2005), 0.46 (March-May 2005), 0.47 (May-June 2005), 0.48 (June-August 2005), 0.49 (August-September 2005), 0.50 (September-November 2005), 0.51 (November 2005 - January 2006), 0.52 (January-February 2006), 0.53 (February-April 2006), 0.54 (April-June 2006), 0.55 (June-July 2006), 0.56 (July-September 2006), 0.57 (September-November 2006), 0.58 (November-December 2006), 0.59 (December 2006 - February 2007), 0.60 (February-May 2007), 0.61 (April-May 2007), 0.62 (May-July 2007), 0.63 (July-September 2007), 0.64 (September-November 2007), 0.65 (November 2007 - January 2008), 0.66 (January-March 2008), 0.67 (March-April 2008), 0.68 (April-June 2008), 0.69 (July-August 2008), 0.70 (August-September 2008), 0.71 (September-October 2008), 0.72 (October-November 2008), 0.73 (November 2008 - January 2009), 0.74 (January-February 2009), 0.75 (February-April 2009), 0.76 (April-June 2009), 0.77 (June-August 2009), 0.78 (August-September 2009), 0.79 (September-November 2009), 0.80 (November-December 2009), 0.81 (December 2009 - February 2010), 0.82 (February-April 2010), 0.83 (April-May 2010), 0.84 (May-July 2010), 0.85 (July-September 2010), 0.86 (September-October 2010), 0.87 (October-December 2010), 0.88 (December 2010 - February 2011), 0.89 (February-April 2011), 0.90 (April-June 2011), 0.91 (June-August 2011), 0.92 (August-October 2011), 0.93 (October-December 2011), 0.94 (December 2011-January 2012), 0.95 (January-March 2012), 0.96 (March-April 2012), 0.97 (April-June 2012), 0.98 (June-September 2012), 0.99 (September-November 2012), 0.9901 (November-December 2012), 0.9902 (December 2012-February 2013), 0.9903 (February-March 2013), 0.9904 (March-May 2013), 0.9905 (May-July 2013), 0.9906 (July-September 2013), 0.9907 (September-October 2013), 0.9908 (October-December 2013), 0.9909 (December 2013-February 2014), 0.9910 (February-May 2014), 0.9911 (May-July 2014), 0.9912 (July-August 2014), 0.9913 (August-October 2014), 0.9914 (November 2014-January 2015), 0.9915 (January-April 2015), 0.9916 (April-July 2015), 0.9917 (July-September 2015), 0.9918 (September-November 2015), 0.9919 (November 2015-January 2016), 0.9920 (January-April 2016), 0.9921 (April-June 2016), 0.9922 (June-July 2016), 0.9923 (July-September 2016), 0.9924 (October-December 2016), 0.9925 (January-February 2017), 0.9926 (March-April 2017), 0.9927 (May-June 2017), 0.9928 (June-October 2017), 0.9929 (October-December 2017), 0.9930 (December 2017-March 2018), 0.9931 (March-April 2018), 0.9932 (May-July 2018), 0.9933 (July-September 2018), 0.9934 (September-December 2018), 0.9935 (December 2018-February 2019), 0.9936 (February-April 2019), 0.9937 (April-July 2019), 0.9938 (July-August 2019), 0.9939 (August-November 2019), 0.9940 (November 2019-February 2020), 0.9941 (February-June 2020), 0.9942 (June-August 2020), 0.9943 (August-November 2020), 0.9944 (November 2020-March 2021), 0.9945 (March-July 2021), 0.9946 (July-September 2021), 0.9947 (September 2021-January 2022), 0.9948 (December 2021-August 2022), 0.9949 (August 2022-April 2023), 0.9950 (April-August 2023), 0.9951 (August-November 2023), 0.9952 (November 2023-August 2024), ... Current Volume. Send comments and suggestions to z (at) his.com. Thank you! (Copyright © 1999-2023 by Mark Zimmermann.)