Communication is not what sets humans apart

This is a passage from Ray Nayler’s book The Mountain in the Sea. I keep coming across this idea that language enables us to talk about what is not immediately present, and that we are the only species capable of …

Years of searching for meaning revealed in a minute

I’m reading Natalie Goldberg’s book Three Simple Lines, in which she describes her visit to Japan as she traces the footsteps of haiku master Basho. Along with her travel companions, she meets Harada and his son, …

Japanese builds from the outside in

I am reading Three Simple Lines by Natalie Goldberg and she wrote about this incident where in her trip to Japan, her student Mitsue—who is also a friend and her guide in Japan— told her about someone who wanted …

More than human world

I read this term in Ways of Being by James Bridle. It was coined by American ecologist and philosopher David Abram, and refers to a way of thinking that seeks to override our human tendency to separate ourselves …

Interesting is a non-word

In this scene from Matt Ross’s movie Captain Fantastic, Viggo Mortensen’s character tells his daughter that interesting is a non word, and that she was supposed to avoid it and be more specific. This idea stuck …