Dear wonderers,
It’s been a minute since we’ve last explored a new rabbit hole — so thank you for being here, for joining me in these random quests, and for sharing your insights. (*I’m still collecting them, please click that link ;) )
Because one of you gifted me a word, you inspired me to pay it forward with *more* of these seemingly untranslatable concepts.
Thus, in this edition we’re looking at the way language shapes our worldviews, behaviours, and emotions:
#ToSee
We’re starting with pronoia — your gifted word, that has two very different meanings:
One historical meaning which, according to Wiki, refers to a fiscal grant instituted in the Byzantine Empire:
One philosophical meaning which may or may not have been influenced by history — the belief that the world/providence/the universe is secretly conspiring in your favour & paranoia’s antonym.
In the spirit of our second definition, here’s a truly inspiring TED Talk on the experiences we can design for ourselves and the people around us — helping the universe just a little bit:
#ToRead
My North Star for many years has been, contrary to my passion for Japanese culture, not ikigai but eudaimonia — in the Aristotelian sense of “human flourishing” within “moral boundaries”.
In the spirit of this *stoic* concept, here’s a reminder that chasing happiness is the wrong way to do it: “Wisdom empowers us to discern life’s true priorities, separating the essential from the trivial, and to make sound judgments based on reason and understanding.”
Complement it with the incisive and beautiful This is water by David Foster Wallace:
“But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving…. The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day. / That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.”
#ToListen
The (potential) sounds of shinrin-yoku, the Japanese practice of forest bathing
Mångata (Sweden) and what I imagine listening to while looking at the moon’s reflection on clear waters.
Something to chase litost (Czech) away, following Milan Kundera’s spirit.
#ToPonder
Have you ever felt, sensed, or thought about…acatalepsy?
What word do you want to explore? Gift it in the comments 👇
Best structure. Good content. Like pronia. Hate acatalepsya. Love u 🥰
Alice, I love this newsletter edition, it helped me kickstart my week with 'kind reminders' about what I value and truly want and love and believe in, and inspired me to keep going. A great feeling 💙