What do you know?
Hey Reader,
A great chunk of life is a search for knowledge. From the very firsts steps as babies, we embark on an odyssey, picking up pieces of information, trying to find meaning in a disconnected jumble of fact and opinion.
Children playing at connecting the dots.
Then, just as we get know the family, the siblings, the immediate circle of people - we're rush into the kindergarten, elementary school, high school, maybe even college, a job. Whenever life seems to start making sense, that very life drops a piano on our heads and a little voice somewhere goes:
“Ha! You thought you knew something, didn'tcha?”
It’s hard to cope with this. Being alive for 20, 50, 80 years and knowing that we've barely peeked below the surface, that life's just too short to know everything there’s to know.
We’re then left with a choice. One, accept that we know very little and will manage to learn only a bit more. Two, , become terrified and pretend to know all there’s to know, never allowing conflicting information to disturb your worldview.
I re-read the last paragraph and ask myself:
Which of these choices have I been making so far?
One quote
“We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance." - John Archibald Wheeler
Stay slow,
Marin
P.S. This newsletter is free to read, but not cheap to write. To show your support, forward this letter to someone you think might enjoy it. It really does help! 😊
P.P.S. Seeing this newsletter for the first time? Read the previous editions and subscribe here.
Marin Mikulic
Hey Reader, I've always been a hoarder. Not of things and trinkets though, but off thoughts and quotes from great writers, philosophers, poets, and just about everyone else. Over the years, this hoard of mine has grown and I've made good use of it, especially when life got hard and I needed a helping hand. I've created lists to read in the morning and at night, little reminders of what I think is the good life, often written in my own words, rather than copied from someone else. I thought I'd...
Night has settled, dinner’s eaten, tent pitched. A long day of walking is over. The smell of cold in the air, lingering smoke, and chance flowers. I sit at the entrance of my flim and load a pipe, a gift from a friend. I load it well and good. This night’s for puffing. The first cloud leaves my nostrils and lazes upward, toward the Milky Way. The Way is magnificent tonight, a scar of sheer diamonds across the heavens. The smoke fills my lungs again and, as always, collects my thoughts. For...
Hey Reader, There are times when your brain, your body, your very soul is on fire. This happens when you think about just how much there is to do and see and say in this world. All the wondrous things other people seem to be doing — on Facebook, on Instagram — and just how small your life is in comparison. So you decide to do it all yourself, to say yes to it all: "Yes! I will write, I will create a podcast, yes I will make that app and start that company, I’ll be an entrepreneur, and learn...