42 Comments
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Lihi's avatar

I keep saying recently how alienated I feel from modern life. I’ve been refusing to read novels written about the 21st century because all I want is to escape. Everything feels so overwhelming and cruel and messy and ugly in its truest sense. You articulated that feeling, took this life we’re living and somehow made it beautiful, sacred. All its small components turned into the kind of fairytales I’ve been running to for escape. The Larger Oath is everything to me, I may need to read it everyday. Thank you for this.

Also these, I will be thinking about these:

‘The old stories were never about beauty. They were handbooks for making it through the forest with your appetite intact.’

‘Miracles are simply ordinary things doing their job while I finally pay attention.’

‘The orchestra is embarrassingly domestic. That is why it saves us.’

Maybe life is just chaos, mundane, maybe it’s for literature to make it beautiful, for us to remind eachother where the beauty is.

Kiran Grace's avatar

I'm definitely copying that oath into my glimmer journal to read and reflect on daily!

Dan's avatar

This was great. The only bad part was when I was struggling to pick which line I wanted to restack.

AB's avatar

Beauty!

Robert Wallis's avatar

One of the most beautiful pieces I’ve read in a long time. Absolutely beautiful. Amen.

Kristine Dubuque's avatar

I did not want this post to end! Brilliant. Such Truth. Such Honesty. I took some notes to remember. Loved every gentle reminder! Wow. Immediately Subscribed!

Shelter in Words's avatar

I am floored and made hopeful, if not inspired, by all of these most beautifully true lines. Thank you 😊

Michelle's avatar

I think I needed to read this one today - thanks

Goutham Soorya's avatar

You inspire me to write with my heart

Morgan Jelveh's avatar

So damn gorgeous…I will keep this close to my heart and refer to it often. Thank you doesn’t seem to suffice but thank you for this.

Ewa Łączkowska's avatar

I come here for the surprise of the metaphors.

AB's avatar

Right? I love how we don’t know anything about her/him, (although in one piece there was a hint that made me think: male.) our own literary Barthesian Banksy :)

Freeing the genius signifiers from the ego branding of the author, just handing it as an offering to the reader to work with. So Shklovsky. So refreshing.

Miss Natalie Marie's avatar

This is the first piece of writing I got to have the pleasure of giving myself wholly to, in some time (reading hitchhikers guide on an rv going nowhere and everywhere is other recent time). I love how you committed, doubled down on that commitment then set it all on fire. Yay bluebirds and how small and inevitable bravery is when you remember the joy of a close in step (David whyte)

Charrise McCrorey's avatar

This left me without breath, heart exploding, hands sweaty with the truth of it. Holy shit.

Astrid the Rationalist Witch's avatar

I love your writing for the moment I stop skimming and actually settle in to just be in the moment and enjoy it.

Christian @norsecycles's avatar

Pure alchemy. These are words to live by. Thank you

Kiran Grace's avatar

alchemy! YES! That is the right word, thank you for finding it!

Dipti  Vyas's avatar

A contemporary prose-epic that blends satire, moral philosophy, and lyric essay into a coherent, emotionally generous whole. It is doing a lot. It never confuses difficulty with importance. Paying rent is not romanticized; it is dignified.

My favorite line:

The old stories were never about beauty. They were handbooks for making it through the forest with your appetite intact.