#082 Watching Candles Burn
Common Discourse is a project designed to help others (and ourselves) think through creativity, focus, and intentional work—from Alex Tan & Alice Otieno.
Every Tuesday we share words from a journal, a few ideas, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Words from the Journal come once a month.
Strong winds in Northeast Los Angeles knocked over power lines in my neighborhood yesterday, sending my block into a power outage that is on hour 6 as I’m writing this.
All my plans for the evening involved electricity, but I guess the universe is urging me to get ahead on writing.
— Alex
A few ideas
I. POTENTIAL
When we don’t like where things are headed, we’re left with a few responses:
Take charge
Find somebody else to put our trust in
Complain
The first two are an acknowledgement that things could be better. The latter is a choice to be stuck with the circumstances.
To see the potential is to see a better, happier, healthier future—for ourselves and for others.
II. INVOLVEMENT
We often think so simply it hurts.
Involvement = More work
No Involvement = Less work
But imagine for a moment what it means to not be involved: no chance to raise a question, give your two cents, or even listen in for context.
“I don’t want to be involved” might be the biggest and most costly involvement.
III. JUDGEMENT
What if they judge us? What if we do something and they don’t fully understand it, underestimate it, reject it, or criticize it?
The only other option is that they ignore us. We could make something that isn’t worth talking about. We could say something that people pay no mind to. We could publish something that isn’t worth forming an opinion on. All because it’s safer.
Your choice.
A quote from somebody else
“Life is best lived at two poles: the heightening of self that comes with solitude, or the loss of self that comes with devotion”
Links worth sharing
🎶 Seth Godin at TED 2014 Is it a note worth playing?
❣️I Finally Read bell hooks’ All About Love & Not To Be Dramatic, But It Changed My Life via Refinery 29
🌷 Cloud 9 Memorial Garden is a space dedicated to collective remembrance by way of care, gentleness and respect. It invites visitors of the site to transform personal grief into collective healing, growth and liberation.
🍏 Infinite Mac is a collection of classic Macintosh system releases and software (between 1984-2000), all easily accessible from the comfort of a modern web browser.
🎙 HOME Impressions is a podcast hosted by curator Haja Fanta and multidisciplinary artist Ronan Mckenzie. In this first episode the two discuss five influences that have left a lasting impact on their creative practice.
🌼 Springtime Again, by Sun Ra & His Arkestra
Thanks for consuming!
ABOUT
ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.
📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.
🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.
COMMUNITY
🐤 We have a Twitter feed where we populate things that resonate.
⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.
🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.
💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis
“I don’t want to be involved” might be the biggest and most costly involvement." OOF! reminds me of this quote i just read: "“In any case, passivity can be very powerful. It’s an efficient way of shifting responsibility—and blame—onto other people. And instead of having to do anything, you get to be angry all the time.” from Deborah Eisenberg https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6203/the-art-of-fiction-no-218-deborah-eisenberg