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Sloww Sunday Newsletter 008 (March 8, 2020) — Waking Up, Oneness, How to do Nothing, & More
Happy Sunday!
Sloww Sunday is a new email newsletter sharing inspiration to awaken the art of living in all of us.
In a modern world focused on the trendy, here’s your weekly dose of the timeless.
1 // New on Sloww
“Call me Trim Tab”: Buckminster Fuller & The Impact of an Individual on Society
Last post about Buckminster Fuller (for now). This is a short one about human potential, universal principles, and a metaphor for the influence of the individual on the collective.
So I’m positive that what you do with yourself, just the little things you do yourself, these are the things that count. To be a real trim tab, you’ve got to start with yourself, and soon you’ll feel that low pressure, and suddenly things begin to work in a beautiful way. Of course, they happen only when you’re dealing with really great integrity: You must be helping evolution.
— Buckminster Fuller
In Case You Missed It:
2 // Video I’m Watching
Hard to Find Anthony de Mello Videos (TonydeMello.com | Variety of Lengths)
Thank you to the commenter Tomasz who let me know that Anthony de Mello’s brother, Bill, just uploaded these videos to his own website. Anthony de Mello videos are difficult to find online and typically get removed from YouTube due to copyright infringement. Enjoy them while you can!
Video segments include:
- A Way to God for Today (6 parts)
- Rediscovering Life (1 part)
- WAKE UP (3 parts)
Pair with A Tough Love Approach to Spirituality: “Awareness” by Anthony de Mello (Book Summary)
3 // Speech I’m Listening To
How to do Nothing — Jenny Odell (Vimeo | 50 mins)
This presentation is a breath of fresh air in many ways. If you’d prefer to read along, there’s a full transcript here. There’s also a full-length book by the same name available now.
What a relief to have nothing to say, the right to say nothing, because only then is there a chance of framing the rare, and ever rarer, thing that might be worth saying.
— Gilles Deleuze
Pair with:
- 5 Themes from “In Praise of Idleness” by Bertrand Russell (Essay Summary)
- Total Work: When Humans are Transformed into Workers and Nothing Else (Were we Born only to Work?)
4 // Article I’m Reading
What Would Happen If Everyone Truly Believed Everything Is One? (Scientific American | 4 mins)
This short article gives a quick overview of some oneness research studies.
Perhaps now, more than ever in the course of human history, we would benefit more from a oneness mindset.
— Scott Barry Kaufman
Oneness and interconnectedness are themes that I’m beginning to see over and over again. You can find these themes in the following book summaries (links go straight to oneness notes):
- “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse (Book Summary)
- “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle (Book Summary)
- “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius (Book Summary)
- “Stillness is the Key” by Ryan Holiday (Book Summary)
5 // Quote & Question I’m Contemplating
The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.
— Alan Watts
Deep Question: What’s your take on the meaning life? Have you thought about it recently? Leave a comment and let me know your take on the meaning of life. I’m genuinely curious about the amazing diversity of answers to this ultimate question.
Bonus // Something I’m Learning
Perennial Philosophy (also perennialism and perennial wisdom):
- Perspective in spirituality that views all of the world’s religious traditions as sharing a single, metaphysical truth or origin from which all esoteric and exoteric knowledge and doctrine has grown.
- A more popular interpretation argues for universalism, the idea that all religions, underneath seeming differences, point to the same Truth.
- Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) coined the term philosophia perennis.
- More on Wikipedia (perennial philosophy).
Worth sharing? If you enjoyed this issue of Sloww Sunday, please share with a friend or two (or post socially). It’s easy for them to subscribe for free here.
Have feedback? It’s always appreciated! Please let me know by email or socially. Also, please let me know if you come across interesting content on the same wavelength as Sloww. I may be able to include it in an upcoming newsletter.
Have a full (but not busy) week!
Go with the Sloww,
Kyle Kowalski
Founder, Sloww
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