Kidding aside, I've been quietly following the development or Rarely Certain, and I detect a change of pace underway, along with a lot of questions about self, voice and purpose. As ever, I find your journey resonates a lot. As you ask "is this what I want to be writing about?", I ask "is this what I want to be reading about?", and I get a sense that a lot of the underlying questions to those overarching ones are rooted in a similar journey. Not sure where I'm going here - just thought I'd share.
The best analogy I can think of, for how I want to write and read/learn is 'between the cracks'.
There are clearly delineated spaces that are already explored to death, whereas I'm seeking possible syntheses.
A great writer, for example, is Paul Kingsnorth. He is writing about his growing commitment to Christianity. I would not have sensed there was anything in that for me (as a non-religious sort) until I grasped that there is space 'between the cracks' where insights often lie.
I notice that one of the strongest forces in our culture comes from totalising principles. You are either (or somehow seen to be) with whatever team, or against it. I've noticed that this is bound up with anxieties around identity and validity. Shedding identity (and thereby any validation that an identity receives) seems to be liberating, if my inner state is anything to go by.
Insofar as I care about influencing anyone (greater than zero, though not by much) it's to encourage individuation from mimetic pressures.
Kidding aside, I've been quietly following the development or Rarely Certain, and I detect a change of pace underway, along with a lot of questions about self, voice and purpose. As ever, I find your journey resonates a lot. As you ask "is this what I want to be writing about?", I ask "is this what I want to be reading about?", and I get a sense that a lot of the underlying questions to those overarching ones are rooted in a similar journey. Not sure where I'm going here - just thought I'd share.
The best analogy I can think of, for how I want to write and read/learn is 'between the cracks'.
There are clearly delineated spaces that are already explored to death, whereas I'm seeking possible syntheses.
A great writer, for example, is Paul Kingsnorth. He is writing about his growing commitment to Christianity. I would not have sensed there was anything in that for me (as a non-religious sort) until I grasped that there is space 'between the cracks' where insights often lie.
I notice that one of the strongest forces in our culture comes from totalising principles. You are either (or somehow seen to be) with whatever team, or against it. I've noticed that this is bound up with anxieties around identity and validity. Shedding identity (and thereby any validation that an identity receives) seems to be liberating, if my inner state is anything to go by.
Insofar as I care about influencing anyone (greater than zero, though not by much) it's to encourage individuation from mimetic pressures.
That hair tho!
I'm thinking through excuses to share the ultimate hair shock, from 1981. That'll be a keeper