Today I about touched bottom, and perceive plainly that I must face the choice with open eyes: shall I frankly throw the moral business overboard, as one unsuited to my innate aptitudes, or shall I follow it, and it alone, making everything else merely stuff for it? I will give the latter alternative a fair trial. Who knows but the moral interest may become developed […] Hitherto I have tried to fire myself with the moral interest, as an aid in the accomplishing of certain utilitarian ends.
Whether it’s due to some emergence of creativity from the depths of human nature, or simply the mark left by the gentle touch of madness, I’ve come to feel a profound unrest in my soul.1 Like William James, I find myself turning to questions of lived experience. And furthermore, despite the constant temptation to fall into a world of despair and distrust, I choose instead to experience everyday wonders, the little miracles of the mundane, the scent of dust after rain, the rustle of the wind through the leaves, and the sunlit glow of a loved one’s smile.
Quixotic, isn’t it?
Here you can expect to find creative projects – poetry, photography, as well as short and longform writing – that reflect on this way of living.
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I hope you enjoy!
References
James, William. The Writings of William James. Edited by John Joseph McDermott, University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Footnotes
- Where “soul” doesn’t necessarily carry the Christian connotations, but more in the Greek sense, as in an animating force, or spirit of personality