Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) implored people to learn from the silence of the lily and the bird. In other words to learn to refrain from speaking. He believed that we should learn this because we humans possess the power of speech and so we should learn the art of silence. According to Kierkegaard our human suffering stems from our inability to be silent.
The Bird:
“The bird keeps silent and waits; it knows, or rather it fully and firmly believes, that everything takes place at its appointed time. Therefore the bird waits, but it knows that it is not granted to it to know the hour or the day; therefore it keeps silent. ‘It will surely take place at the appointed time,’ the bird says. Or no, the bird does not say this, but keeps silent. But its silence speaks, and its silence says that it believes it, and because it believes it, it keeps silent and waits. Then, when the moment comes, the silent bird understand that this is the moment; it makes use of it and is never put to shame.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard
The Lily:
“because it knows that [Spring] will come at the appointed time; it knows that it would not benefit in any way whatever if it were permitted to determine the seasons of the year. It does not say, ‘When will we get rain?’ or ‘When will we have sunshine? Or ‘Now we have had too much rain,’ or ‘Now it is too hot.’…no, it keeps silent and waits…” ~ Søren Kierkegaard
It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realised that the cartoon Gummy Bears wasn’t just in English, it was syndicated all over the world and many other kids knew this theme song in their own language. Here’s the theme song in dozens of different languages. Any late milennials will know the melody.
This chiming theme song is redolent of my childhood. Hearing that the Polish Bear knew the song by heart in Polish was like realising how all people from the same generation have similar childhoods in terms of pop culture. One could cynically say it’s a globalised culture of media, but then again it means two people from opposite sides of the world have a mutual appreciation and mutual understanding in many ways and this realisation can be delightful!
In Aoteaeroa staying at my great uncle’s local Dairy (which he owned) along with all the other mokos (grandchildren) meant a lot of chaos, noise, playing and endless (I mean endless) access to chocolate and fish and chips, kids music magazines like Smash Hits! And VHS tapes of movies totally inappropriate for my tender age (nine or ten).
FYI: A Dairy in New Zealand is the equivalent of a Milk Bar in Australia or a Corner Store/ 7/11 in the US or Japan.
Little did people know who came to the Dairy that all of the kids magazines had been heavily thumbed by chocolate-smeared tiny human paws.
Anyway the stay in the Dairy meant an unlimited selection of shitty, B-grade movies (the kind that went straight to video) from the Dairy era. Nobody ever seemed to rent them out as they were well and truly ancient by the standards of the day. This meant us kids had carte blanche to keep our eyes glued to the TV.
That Dairy in Papakura was the true Halcyon Days of my childhood gluttony and returning to cheese and vegemite sandwiches and school once I came back to Australia was extremely depressing and sad for me. I returned feeling sick and having stomach issues and also I went yellow and jaundiced from the lack of vegetables and only eating fish and chips and hot dogs for several weeks. However being nine I just ran around a bit and the kilos vanished off me and I eventually had normal colouring.
Weird and shameful food combos, a timeline of a #posthuman galaxy, wolpertingers, purple jellyfish and their friends, how to have better arguments, and other esoterica, edition #133
An amusing look at weird food combos that some people actually enjoy. Via First Dog on the Moon. Great additions in comments underneath. Do you eat weird things?
Persian Achaemenid rhyton (drinking vessel or vessel for pouring libations) made of lapis lazuli and gold. 6th-5th century BCE. Abegg Foundation, Riggisberg, Switzerland (6.7.63). Via Angela O’Brien on Twitter
Persian Achaemenid rhyton (drinking vessel or vessel for pouring libations) made of lapis lazuli and gold. 6th-5th century BCE. Abegg Foundation, Riggisberg, Switzerland (6.7.63). Via Angela O’Brien on Twitter
It very much boggles the mind that after are all merely speckles of dust floating around the atmosphere and are remembered by nobody…this stuff will be happening. It is rather humbling.
What would it mean to operate from a place of deep time diligence? To feel our obligation to the beings around us and future generations? In this conversation, Tyson Yunkaporta, an Aboriginal scholar and author who belongs to the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland, speaks with executive editor Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee about deep-time thinking and how it can radically reshape our relationship to the cosmic order. With candor and humor, Tyson pokes at the many ways Western civilization has cut us off from knowledge held in union with the living world. Opening us to long-term thinking, in which Lore, technology, and story are cared for intergenerationally, Tyson urges us to consider how we might begin to sow the seeds of cautionary tales that will carry us into an uncertain future. Read more and listen to podcast.
The Wolpertinger is a mythical creature from Bavarian folklore in Germany, with a body that’s a mash-up of parts of other creatures. They typically having wings, antlers, tails, and fangs and often resembling a rabbit with antlers and wings.
This chimera-like beast is said to inhabit the Alpine forests of Bavaria, embodying the whimsy and mystery of the region’s folklore. Tales of the Wolpertinger are often told with a mix of humor and caution, serving as entertaining stories for locals and a playful warning to gullible travelers. The creature reflects the rich tapestry of Germanic myths, combining elements of the familiar and the fantastical to spark the imagination and celebrate the cultural heritage of Bavaria.
Plant scientists are urging us to rethink what trees truly are, portraying them as far more than just tall, woody giants. Amidst the challenges of climate change, these experts suggest viewing trees as complex, interconnected systems known as ‘holobionts.’ This term highlights the intimate relationship between a tree and the diverse microorganisms living within and on them. According to a paper in Trends in Plant Science, trees might adapt to rapid climate shifts through their dynamic microbiomes. Dr. Sarah Addison from Western Sydney University explains that by understanding trees as co-evolved entities with their microbiomes, we can better support their survival in an ever-changing climate. This holistic view underscores the need to see trees as interactive networks, deeply entwined with their environment and microbiomes, offering a robust model for studying climate change resilience. Via Cosmos
Feeding birds is one of the purest things I do. Feeding them, cleaning up after them, taking their photographs. I don’t do it for money. I don’t do it for approval, acceptance, or notoriety. Nor do I expect anything in return, not from them or anyone else. I do it because I care. I do it because they matter to me.
Collage is also among the purest things I do. When I sit down in my studio with my scissors, glue stick, and a stack of old magazines, I play like a child. I feel energetic, lighthearted, free. And while I sometimes exchange my artwork for money, profit is not and never has been my reason. If it were, I would have quit long ago.
I could say the same about poetry, cooking, physical exercise, and even this blog, for that matter. These pursuits are, for me, very much ends in themselves. I do them because it’s in me to do them.
We used the tools of computational linguistics to analyze thousands of interactions between people who disagree with each other on hot-button social and political issues: police brutality, campus sexual assault, affirmative action and COVID-19 vaccines. Based on these analyses, we developed an algorithm that picks out specific words and phrases that make people in conflict feel that their counterpart is thoughtfully engaging with their perspective.
H = Hedge your claims, even when you feel very certain about your beliefs. It signals a recognition that there are some cases or some people who might support your opponent’s perspective.
E = Emphasize agreement. Find some common ground even when you disagree on a particular topic. This does not mean compromising or changing your mind, but rather recognizing that most people in the world can find some broad ideas or values to agree on.
A = Acknowledge the opposing perspective. Rather than jumping in to your own argument, devote a few seconds to restating the other person’s position to demonstrate that you did indeed hear and understand it.
R = Reframing to the positive. Avoid negative and contradictory words, such as “no,” “won’t” or “do not.” At the same time, increase your use of positive words to change the tone of the conversation.
Varsam Kurnia is a painter and illustrator from Jakarta, Indonesia whose artwork is totally mesmerising. With deft paint strokes he captures dreamlike scenarios with an ethereal quality. These artworks feature esoteric themes that explore the mysteries of life, death, love, pain and everything else in between. In can see a lot of influence from mythology, folklore and science fiction and many different artistic styles. The deep blues and the subject matter reminds me of Odilon Redon’s art. Found via Inspiration Grid on Mastodon.
Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!
Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.
As a long-time fan of the UK TV show, The Great Pottery Throwdown I have developed a fascination for hand-building and handcrafting things using clay.
Some amazing person uploaded the whole 7th season here, so get in there before it’s taken down!
So I tentatively decided to give clay building a go myself. I’ve never hand-built or sculpted anything before, however it has always appealed to me. It’s a mindful and peaceful activity that involves a lot of hand-eye coordination, immense focus, creativity and problem-solving, in the most delightful way. If I like it, I’ll progress to throwing clay on a wheel and making bigger things.
So I purchased my first kit of coloured polymer clay which comes with a lot of tools and moulds and hooks etc for putting the clay onto jewelry.
There is always room in anyone’s life for these kinds of simple pleasures that are away from looking at a screen. And who cares if it seems infantile, childish or the kind of thing only children should be doing.
Not one of my designs, off the internet. Not sure of maker.Not one of my designs, off the internet. Via Pistolholer Not one of my designs, off the internet. By Helena Amorim on Pinterest.
These cacti here look easy enough. I’m going to enjoy the process and try and not get upset if the result doesn’t match what’s in my head.
I believe that creative play is a rebellious act. When you choose to make things purely for your own pleasure and not for profit or recognition or praise…what you are rejecting is the need to be constantly busy, constantly improving yourself or creating something that others want you to. There are so many calls to perform in our world and it’s exhausting. So tell those calls to piss off and put your phone on silent, or better yet switch the bastard off for the day.
You are worth infinitely more than whatever productive value you give to the broken economic system of end-stage capitalism.
Doing things like this, doodling, making, rikki tikki taving, building, just waiting and seeing what happens is a pleasure anyone can do. And don’t beat yourself up over the result.
What do you think? Do you like making or doing things just for the hell of it or because you want to step outside of the push for performative or striving in the real/working world?
Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez is more known for his stunning works for fiction. However this short novella his first published peice of work is non-fiction.
Garcia wrote this essay in a series of newspaper articles in Bogota over 30 years ago. He tells the dramatised story of a sailor Luis Alejandro Velasco who sailed on a ship laden with contraband goods from Alabama in the US bound for Columbia. The ship encountered a turmultuous storm which threw all aboard into the sea with devastating consequences.
Hero of the story Velasco is lucky enough to find the life vessel and he alone climbs aboard. He is thereafter adrift in the vastness of the ocean.
I can’t say anything more about this novel without giving away the riveting and highly engaging plot.
What I will say is that Garcia packs a punch with this short and dramatic novel. It’s incredibly engaging and visceral in its grisly realism of what it would be like to suffer starvation and extreme thirst at sea. Also he weaves a powerful tale of the extreme loneliness and strange delusions that visit someone who is completely deprived of all sensory input.
I’ve never really gotten into survival stories before but this one is really amazing! I would highly recommend it.
I love living right next to the beach and being able to walk there each day. There are egrets, rosellas, cocakatoos, gallahs, Australian crows, rainbow lorikeets, tawny frogmouths, dusky moorhens, superb fairy wrens. All flitter and flirt through the brush and low lying bushes near the beach with one eye on me as I walk by. These places are alive with a cacophony of calls and this puts me into a peaceful frame of mind. This other-than-human intelligence and knowing is soothing and helps me to realise and remember that I am not the only one with a brain or a life, it humbles and puts me into place as just another life form – living, breathing and surviving.
As you probably have realised from previous posts about the automated paper town called Paperholme, I’m obsessed with paper art. And here is yet another fragile and whimsical creation that I’ve fallen in love with. Paper is a medium that can trump rocks but not scissors, and in these stop motion animations you will discover that paper has incredible powers of impersonation in the creative hands of Matt Willis of Yell Design. Matt has created Australia’s first stop-motion animation content studio where he creates quaint and sweet little short videos for top brands and agencies.
Yell Design creates kooky and phantasmagorical recipes, with the same sort of surrealist vibe as the recently profiled Dali cookbook. Included are stories about the lesser known clinical and medical origins of the humble Bloody Mary, along with reimagining a ramen recipe as wood shavings and ramen soup ingredients as a set of car keys. One highlight of the videos is when Matt ingeniously approximates a slab of meat with a piece of heavily veined pink recycled paper.
If that all sounds a little bit too weird for you to handle, then I recommend checking out these beautiful stop motion animations yourself. How this hasn’t gone viral yet I’m not sure.
The peace that comes after a swim in a lake, river or the ocean, when allowing your body dry naturally in the hot sun.
The peace of an animal friend placing their paw or head on your lap, in a quiet moment together.
The peace of knowing that you did your best at doing something, even if the outcome wasn’t what you wanted.
The peace of a gentle moment of silence between good friends or with your lover that doesn’t need to be filled.
The peace of realising you’re getting older but that doesn’t matter as much as it used to.
The peace of making a loaf, cake or something else that rises melts or changes in shape and smell and anticipating eating it.
The peace of working your body hard with physical labour and going into your home after to rest.
The peace of resuming a book that you love and relish and never want to end.
The peace of working and living beside someone who gets you, even the ugly parts of you, and still loves you anyway.
The peace of the first blossom buds poking through after a long and bitter winter.
The peace of rustling trees waving as though gesturing hello to you in the wind.
A wall of green foliage greets me like a friend in the winter sunshine
The peace of a piece of music that transports you to a time and place of pure joy.
The peace of forgiving someone who did something horrible to you. Not for them but for yourself and your own state of mind.
The peace of a daydream reverie and staring into the distance.
The peace of crystals shimmering in the sun.
The peace of experiencing a piece of art or a film or a book that makes you realise you’re not alone in the world.
The peace of doing the work you love to do.
The peace of learning something new or being surprised by something new.
The peace that comes from connecting with living beings of the non-human variety: plants and animals.
The peace of seeing the vastness of the Milky Way at night and knowing that you are so tiny and insignificant, yet so complex and individual like a spark of light from an eternal fire.
I’m aware that peace is a privilege that only we in peaceful Western countries get to enjoy.
However, that as we speak, bullets rain down in other places, people are being starved, bombed and killed in Palestine and barely a ripple of it reaches the news. This is because the corrupt system that has decided that these lives are worth less than others.
These 30 things are dedicated to the people who may not experience peace in their lifetimes. May they look to the sky and the sun and know there are people out there far away who wish only peace and love for them. May that prayer for the Palestinian people carry now and reverberate well into the future forever.
This week see sleeping anime cats in rice paddies, a mystical and nice quote from Yoko Ono, the difference between a living and dead idea, how snails hitchhiked from a Pacific Islands to the Americas and more, it’s edition #132.
It looks like there’s a very Solar Punk movement towards using these bus shelters for lots of plants that bees and other pollinators will love, it improves the air quality and the ambience of the streets too….well done Paris! Via the uplifting vision of the future – Solar Punk on Reddit.
Are you trying to go plant-based? It doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive to be super tasty!
Just make some tiny cuts like this into some potatoes drizzle over your chosen oil (olive oil is healthiest) and some salt and you’re done. Afterwards, add some yummy coleslaw and hummus to this and bliss out! FYI: 425 degrees Farhenheit = 220 degrees Celcius.
A farmer has created a masterpiece of rice art of the feline kind.
A sleeping cat hugs a fish in a picture seen from the air, picked out in sprouting rainbow seedlings in a rice field in Thailand to illustrate a traditional proverb about abundance.
Farmer Tanyapong Jaikham and a team of workers planted the seedlings at various spots in the field in the northern province of Chiang Rai to depict cartoon cats, hoping to lure tourists and cat lovers. Read more
Cat themed rice masterpiece in Thailand
Distance doesn’t exist, in fact, and neither does time. Vibrations from love or music can be felt everywhere, at all times.
In a delightful twist of fate, a small, unassuming mammal from 65 million years ago has been crowned the ancestor of all modern hoofed animals. This little creature, Militocodon lydae, discovered in Colorado, weighed no more than a modern brown rat. Unearthed from a time shortly after dinosaurs roamed the earth, Militocodon’s partial skull and jaw reveal a fascinating shift in dental evolution, suggesting a move towards shearing and crushing. This tiny mammal is now celebrated as the forebear of cows, deer, and pigs. The discovery, detailed in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution, highlights the mammalian rise from the ashes of the dinosaurs, showcasing the incredible resilience and adaptability of life. Via Cosmos.
Reconstruction of Militocodon lydae. Credit: Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
I really like a cuffed sleeve or Bishop’s sleeve and also the (not mentioned) puffy pirate’s sleeve along with a velvet waistcoat, I also like nice capes and have one in dark blue. What types of sleeves do you like and regularly wear?
I found this incredible channel Flac on YT just last night and have been creating very massive playlists from it ever since. South Africa in the 70’s would have been brutal and tough under Apartheid but it seems that despite this, truly magical and resilient Jazz music flourished!
In numerous conversations with biologists, again and again I was told with varying degrees of confidence that the most likely answer to the puzzle of Hawai‘i’s snails is that the first ones flew here. Everybody narrated this hypothetical scene a little differently, but the main events remained the same. At some point in the distant past, a tiny snail climbed on board a migratory bird, perhaps a golden plover, as it perched or nested overnight. As snails are nocturnal, it makes sense that they might encounter a perched bird in this way, and that this wayward passenger might then be able to hunker down, deep in the bird’s feathers, sealing itself up. Days or weeks later, having rested through the exhausting crossing, the snail then climbed off the bird in its new home.
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud. Do not complain. Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.
The Mouse Mansion is a miniature world filled with tiny corridors, rooms, and workshops where visitors can track the lives of two mice Sam and Julia. If you are fascinated by miniature models and cute tiny houses then this large and well-made artwork will not disappoint. Via Hello Amsterdam
The Mouse Mansion in AmsterdamThe Mouse Mansion in Amsterdam
Maxfield Parrish was a celebrated American painter and illustrator. His luminous works blur reality and a surreal vivid dreamworld are brought alive with rich blues and golden light. His masterpiece Sunrise (1922) radiates a celestial feeling of being in a house in the clouds with the two women in the painting looking down towards the world below. I feel dizzy and exhilarated looking at it as though I am sharing the vast vista with the subjects in the painting. More art of Parrish’s via the Varnished Culture.
Who knew that this is a new thing? Moaning is a national sport as far as I’m concerned.
Call them pet peeves, call them petty grievances, one thing is certain – complaining about everyday irritations feels cathartic. It’s also the premise of American comedy podcast I’ve Had It.
Hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan state, tongue in cheek, that their goal is to compartmentalise complaining and be nicer in their day-to-day life. Their complaints range from pedestrian (cordless vacuums, people who clap when a plane lands, long Instagram captions) to political (the state of the education system). Eyebrow-raising complaints include, simply, “pregnant people”.
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?
Yet another thing that nobody ought give a crap about. This is more a reminder to myself.
A good few years back…you know that time….the golden era and halcyon days when there was no world war, before Trump, before covid, before AI and before the global recession.
Back when people were more frivolous with their money 💰 the Polish Bear and I were on a trip to Japan. In retrospect it seems insane, but the done thing when people visit Kyoto is to:
A. Cosplay as a geisha and samurai warrior and walk through the ye olde streets of Gion. This was something I would LOVE to do but the PB has a very low cringe threshold and said a firm no, much to my disappointment.
B. Have a kaiseki meal (a multi-course, fancy pants, haute cuisine meal featuring the best of Japanese food). Being vegie I have additional ‘special needs’ and so an even more exclusive kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto needed to be found.
And yeah it was me pushing on it, I am ashamed to admit. One of those silly things one sees on YouTube by vloggers who are practically vibrating and having an orgasm while trying a particular Japanese food. Sometimes the OTT expressions of these vloggers doesn’t reflect the taste reality, but sometimes it really is that amazing. The PB would have been happy with whatever half-baked shit on a stick he could find in 7/11 or Family Mart (convenience stores in Japan selling ready meals).
The reality was far from the YouTube melodramatic vlogs. It was served in haste by people it was plain to see were bored, tired and ‘over it’, the pantomime of serving foreign tourists (and who could blame them). The food itself was pretty bland and flavourless. Things were soggy that should be crisp, and it was really off, we both got tummy upsets after. The whole thing set us back $200 USD each.
It was a lesson to not go along with the hype and to do all necessary research on places before you give them money. It’s easy to let your emotions get a hold of you especially on holidays.
I should also say that for that one overpriced meal, we found dozens a fraction of the price that were genuinely mind-blowing! Japan has an amazing food culture and passion for food, but only if you go where locals go and not to places designed for tourists.
What meal has nearly broken your budget?
FYI: I never photographed my kaiseki meal and this image is off the internet I don’t know it’s owner sorry.
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