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The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.
Anaïs Nin, from The Diary of Anais Nin Volume 1: (1931-1934)
Lothar was the name of the theremin. Goodnight.
Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (via nirvikalpa)
It seems that one man’s destiny in this world is quite as much a mystery as it is likely to be in the next. I never thought of acquiring rank in the profession I was educated for; yet it came with two grades higher prefixed to the rank of General Officer for me. I certainly never had either ambition or taste for a political life; yet I was twice President of the United States. If anyone had suggested the idea of my becoming an author, as they frequently did, I was not sure whether they were making sport of me or not. I have now written a book which is in the hands of the manufacturers. I ask that you keep these notes very private lest I become authority with the treatment of diseases. I have already too many trades to be proficient in any. Of course I feel very much better from your application of cocaine, the first in three days, or I should never have thought of saying what I have said above.
— Ulysses S. Grant in a letter to his doctor, dated July 8, 1885. I found this on Tumblr, sorry didn’t track where, and sent it to my best friend, a high school history teacher, explaining that I didn’t track down a source but thought it funny out of context. So he provided me it in a prompt reply which also handily explains part of why I love the man:
“Very good and most probably accurate. By this time Grant was in the last two weeks of his life. The pain of the cancer he died from was likely so severe that he was incoherent from the constant hurting most of the time. He authored an autobiography because, some few years earlier, his agent had stolen all of the fortune that was awarded him after he affected the Union victory in the American Civil War. Since he was peniless, friends convinced him to write a book, which became a national bestseller, to provide for his family after his death. This it did.”
This is why we will meet for five hours at a time.
It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.
Mahatma Gandhi (via originalgiantcontent)
At the heart of Merton’s spirituality is his distinction between our real and false selves. Our false selves are the identities we cultivate in order to function in society with pride and self-possession; our real selves are a deep religious mystery, known entirely only to God. The world cultivates the false self, ignores the real one, and therein lies the great irony of human existence: the more we make of ourselves, the less we actually exist.
Robert Inchausti with thanks to On Being with Krista Tippett and to louie, louie for drawing my attention to it.
(via crashinglybeautiful)
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The whole secret of mystery is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand.
G.K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy
I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people dare to inspect it or fear of losing their bearings in mystery or paradox. But I think there will be little quarrel with my feeling that Texas is one thing. For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study and the passionate possession of all Texans.
Be autonomous.
Engage.
Create through deep, considered, actual individual emotion.
Perfect a balance of technology and the primitive.
Invest absolute faith.
Dwell in the creative process.
De-emphasize volume.
Prioritize heirloom quality.
Specify only the finest materials, components, and methodologies.
Overbuild.
Showcase hand-craftsmanship.
Treasure hand-craftsmanship.
Evolve hand-craftsmanship.
Create a fresh holistic American industrial and mechanical design culture.
Relish the challenge.
Persist eternally
No take away.
Matt Chambers, Confederate Motors manifesto