I think often of Geoff Dyer in Algiers: “As the ball hangs there, moon-white against the wall of cloud, everything in the world seems briefly up for grabs and I am seized by two contradictory feelings: there is so much beauty in the world it is incredible that we are ever miserable for a moment; there is so much shit in the world that it is incredible we are ever happy for a moment.”

I am content enough to know that both feelings are exactly right; no resolution necessary — outside of eternal hope, anyway. This is the water we swim in; rejoice with those rejoicing, mourn with those mourning. This is a loving troubledness that makes sense in the world.

But the left-right tension around me is water I simply cannot get used to swimming in.

When I look at Trumpism (and it is an ism), and all the necessary lies and hypocrisies that support it, I think How can I not side with my brothers on the left? And when I look at the celebration of murder (and that not for the first time), and all the vitriolic arrogance disguised there in colorful love, I think How can I not side with my sisters on the right?

How has everyone found it so goddamn easy to pick a side?

Where is our troubled love?

René Girard:

People imagine that to escape from violence it is sufficient to give up any kind of violent initiative, but since no one in fact thinks of himself as taking this initiative… this act of renunciation is no more than a sham, and cannot bring about any kind of change at all. Violence is always perceived as being a legitimate reprisal or even self-defence. So what must be given up is the right to reprisals and even the right to what passes, in a number of cases, for legitimate defence. Since the violence is mimetic, and no one ever feels responsible for triggering it initially, only by an unconditional renunciation can we arrive at the desired result…

Re-upping here:

And far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this command [to love your enemies] is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, love is the key to the solution of the problems of our world, love even for enemies.

Every single person in the country should read that sermon from MLK right fucking now. I’ve talked to six random people, in real life, face to face, about Charlie Kirk in the last hour, every one of them elated to hear the news.

God help us.

Finished reading: In Search of the Human Face by Luigi Giussani 📚

Splendid. I haven’t read a devotional-type book like this in quite a while. And never one so thoroughly quotable.

This [unbearableness due to the clamor of our weakness] is a great occasion for love, a great occasion for a loving affirmation.

The truth about our humanity cannot be reduced to the observation of its misery but to the wondrous and exalting announcement that this misery is loved. This loving, strong, and faithful presence, more than the fickle and vulnerable fragility that is the substance of humanity when left to itself, is our true richness.

Hopefully I’ll follow up with a few more, and perhaps a larger sample of quotes.

I don’t know what replicating bug I am currently host to, but my sneezes belong in a Ridley Scott Alien movie.

Václav Havel, August 21, 1982 — I was going excerpt it, but the whole thing is so worth reading, right to the last line. Reopening his book of letters from prison has been a treat lately. (I almost wonder if McGilchrist has been reading this too…)

Tee hee

I now think that there is no greater catastrophe awaiting us than that which will be brought about by advances in AI.

Its effects on the human soul and on everything that makes life worth living are so great that they are beyond the ordinary human mind’s comprehension; nothing remotely like this has ever been seen before. This can be the only explanation of the weird indifference that many people still seem to show even at this, the eleventh hour.

Iain McGilchrist is feeling a little, uh, pessimistic.

A coworker was talking about the 12-hour Walk thing, so I looked it up. The advertising is, uh, très blugh — to the point of irony, I think, if not worse. The good news is that you can go for an “unplugged” walk any time you want, without the App, and without a trademarked “mindset.” But then, I haven’t worked with “the biggest brands and the brightest minds,” so feel free to do your own research on this one 🤓

Steve Robinson: Strive for sainthood, not martyrdom.