⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

🏛️ The Rare People Who are Solid: Notes on congruence. Read it here.

❤️‍🔥 Alchemy of The Heart: A classic Ram Dass meditation: Listen here.

A Vision for Betterment: A deeper look at the difference between advancement and actual human flourishing. Watch it here.

🎇 Image of The Week

“An expert in the hypnotic, Wales-based artist Jon Foreman continues his exquisite constructions that position stones and shells into perfectly arranged formations. His most recent pieces include a mesmerizing gradient circle, concentric swirl, and seaside surge that show an evolution from his earlier land art by adding even more density and precision to his already meticulous practice. Because he works in public spaces subject to the elements, Foreman’s compositions last only a short period, although he sells prints in his shop for those wanting to preserve their entrancing nature. You can follow his latest creations and travels on Instagram.” See more here.

🪄 The Magic of Speech

This week, I’m reminded of the way our words can ripple out. To speak is a tremendous power. It almost feels ridiculous to say, because speech is so ubiquitous, but that’s part of why it must be said. We so often use our speech in a way that devalues and overlooks its true power, treating it as pedestrian.

A part of this is because it doesn’t often register for us when our speech has that lingering, staying power in the heart of another. We’re very infrequently told, so we forget that our words could burn like firewood, shielding those we love from the harshness of life.

So I share this as a reminder to you, so that you might hold this magical capability with renewed reverence, and you might seek out opportunities not to gossip or complain, but to speak life into another, to uplift, to distribute life rafts in the deep, thrashing ocean of uncertainty we are all swimming in.

Never expect your words to be returned to you. Do not need your efforts to be noticed, while remaining tremendously grateful when thank yous sail your way.

Today, I invite you to speak beautifully, with eloquence and enthusiasm, as though you were from a foreign world where your spirit had not been buckled by the overwhelming pressures of cynicism and disenchantment.

Your words can rekindle something sleeping in the spirit of your community, and they can awaken those around you to the power their words possess as well.

Abracadabra.

🦗 This Grasshopper

Enjoy this classic from Mary Oliver:

🤓 Learn This Word

Ma: A Japanese word referring to the pregnant negative space between things—in architecture, music, conversation, time. The character combines “gate” (門) with “sun” (日): light beaming through a doorway. Unlike Western negative space, ma is not defined by what surrounds it. It is ontologically primary. The emptiness comes first; form arises within it.

🕸️ From Around The Web

Tricking Your Ears: Auditory Illusions

“It is quite fascinating that the combinations of abstract sounds we call music have such a powerful impact on our individual lives, and world cultures in general. Somewhere during our evolutionary process, our bodies became astonishingly receptive to sounds—starting an avalanche of emotional, cognitive, and physical responses. Yet more than that, each of us has unique ears with deeply individualized acoustic and perceptual architecture.

"Perceptual" is the key term in this article. Although we may all get together in the same room to listen to the same sound, each of us will experience it differently depending on a variety of factors. Furthermore, our sensory organs are limited, and are prone to error—which adds yet another layer of subjectivity to the experience. "Error," in this case, is not necessarily a bad thing, but rather an inherent potential to misinterpret what we hear or see, and in other cases a capacity to construct a completely imagined reality in response to (or sometimes independently of) external stimuli. We call these effects illusions when they are caused by external stimuli, and hallucinations when they happen on their own.

While both hallucinations and illusions have their own evolutionary causes (and value), the latter is much easier to study, as most people can predictively experience the effect, and the results are consistently repeatable. Throughout this article, we aim to investigate some of the more interesting auditory illusions discovered, and explore their potential for creative use in our artistic practices. As you will shortly see, the subject is tightly connected with electronic music, and particularly audio technology in general.”

[Continue Reading]