☕ saturday mornings - august 12, 2023
breaking points, sacred nature & blissful days
Happy Saturday!
I hope you’re having a great start to your weekend.
What I’ve been up to:
I wrapped up the Rabbit-hole-athon retreat (met some awesome people), went for a four-hour hike through a lush North Carolina forest, met a nonchalant black bear, then drove back to Toronto.
I published a new essay called The Illusion of Writing. Writers always sound like they have things figured out, but there’s often a mess behind the polished facade. It's an idea I've been thinking about for months and I was happy to get it out.
I'm planning on foraying into photography next month. (Made the social commitment, can't back out now...) Partly for the vibes, but partly because it teaches you to notice what is beautiful and aesthetic in your surroundings. Any beginner recommendations? Let me know!
Here are the most interesting ideas I've explored this week.
Enjoy.
✍️ quote i’m pondering:
American writer John C. Maxwell on why people change:
People change in four seasons: when they hurt enough they have to, when they see enough they are inspired to, when they learn enough that they want to, and when they receive enough that they are able to.
It’s simplistic, but there’s something about the idea of experience accumulating until you hit a breaking point that feels true to me.
📚 book passage i loved:
"All I wanted to do in the end was advise you to go through your development quietly and seriously; you cannot disrupt it more than by looking outwards and expecting answers from without to questions that only your innermost instinct in your quietest moments will perhaps be able to answer."
― Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
💡 idea from me: nature as sacred
In 1852, the United States Government wanted to buy a plot of tribal land for new immigrants to settle on.
A politician wrote a letter to Chief Seattle, the leader of the native people of those lands, with this request.
His reply was nothing short of marvelous (emphasis my own):
"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
"Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
"We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family.
"The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
"The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.
"If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
"Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
"This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
"One thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
"Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
"When the last Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
"We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all.
"As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know: there is only one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can be apart. We are brothers after all."
❓ question i’m asking:
Am I "running from" or "chasing toward"?
In other words: Am I driven by fear or inspiration?
📸 photo of the week:
I've been (slightly) obsessed with this collection of photos from Simon Sarris titled 'blissful days'.
You can see the full collection on Twitter here.
Thank you for reading! It means a lot to me :)
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With love,
Tommy
I’m no professional photographer but I love photography because it engages the “art eye” for me. I love to paint as well. What I focus on as “beauty” in the photos I take are how I can 2 dimensionally photograph the textures, colors and shadows I am drawn to. That’s why so many photographers and painters are drawn to the southwest US: the colors, shadows, textures, even the warmth of the late sun, as it translates into a photo or a painting. Being a writer, I am certain that the same creative touch and intuition will slip you easily into enjoying your photography course - plus the “vibes”. Have fun.
Nice issue, Tommy. Have you checked out Steven Foster’s Photography For Creatives?