It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." ~ E.E. Cummings ...
Memento Mori, Danse Macabre & Vanitas
Memento mori. Remember that you will die. Us moderns don’t like to think too much about death. It’s a bit too depressing and morbid for our think-positive sensibilities. Our culture is devoted to perpetuating the lie that you can stay young forever and your life will go on and on. But for men living in antiquity all the way up until the beginning of the 20th century, rather ...
Self-Medicating Midlife
"Art is the act of navigating without a map." ~ Seth Godin Back in January I shared Seth Godin's ArtNav wisdom. No editorial comments. Not even a doodle. (Though I've been known to update posts when inspiration strikes, so don't hold me to the spartan quote-only simplicity!) Seth Godin is ever gifted with a full quiver of sage zingers. Short, insightful quips that stick. This is one. Medical ...
Plot
"What makes a great story makes a great life." ~ Anonymous Ever heard that? I've long treated it as a truism. But I just wandered the web looking for a source and couldn't find one. In fact, it looks like this saying is mostly getting bandied about my pastors and marketing mavens. Hmmm... Maybe it's been composted together from many different sayings? Searching for a derivation I came across ...
Countless Lives
My father recently forwarded Roger Cohen's editorial, The Vast Realm of ‘If’. A poignant read that struck a familiar chord up until the curtain call which felt a little too defeated for my pollyanna disposition. "What happens only just happens; then inevitability is conferred upon it. Between the lived and the not-quite-lived lies the little word “if.” It’s a two-letter invitation to the vast ...
In-Betweenness
"In-betweenness is a fundamental condition of our times." ~ Homi K. Bhabha While more of a cultural reference than an age reference, Bhabha's quotation offers a provocative invitation. Midlife is another sort of in-betweenness. A liminal period that is abstract and undefinable in so many ways. Maybe all of life is liminal. Maybe in-betweenness is all we ever know... ...