If you're feeling unfocused or distracted or weak in general, you probably need more walls—to enclose a too-large and too-open space into a smaller and more concentrated space.

Marshall McLuhan is most famous for his pithy mental models about mass media, but he was also a thoughtful Catholic. McLuhan's conversion wasn't driven by personal crisis or emotional need. He simply sought to understand religion on its own terms, humbly acknowledging the limits

The right attitude and body language can get you almost anything you want, as long as you act confidently and happily, but this natural power is often suppressed by social norms and institutions.

"It is not brains or intelligence that is needed to cope with the problems which Plato and Aristotle and all of their successors to the present have failed to confront. What is needed is a readiness to undervalue the world altogether." —Marshall McLuhan

Throughout his life, Ezra Pound sought to protect artistic excellence from both Democracy and also Capitalism. Ezra Pound descended from early American settlers and you see this spirit in his writing. His influence on literary giants like T.S. Eliot and James Joyce was

Reading serious books is not just about learning the content, but using the book itself as a mental wall to increase focus.

Just published a new episode of Other Life (234) 🎧 The Rigor of Angels: Kant, Borges, & Heisenberg with William Egginton share.transistor.fm/s/312142c7

Just published a new episode of Other Life (235) 🎧 The Rigor of Angels: Kant, Borges, & Heisenberg with William Egginton share.transistor.fm/s/8e152d7d

crazy year 2024 we did 21 events online and IRL, on topics from Diogenes to St. John, including the big meetup in the mountains of Wyoming launched print newsletter accidentally discovered consulting is a key ingredient in the indie scholar playbook accidentally built a