”Whatever you do to satisfy yourself will fulfill those in the world who are like you. What takes form within you will be felt outside yourself. But if you try to satisfy someone else, you will serve neither that person or yourself. Thus you will never know any peace. That is the difference between aesthetics and ethics, between the creative and the doing of ‘good deeds.’ The subconscious pushing through the conscious, trying to live in the light, is like the seed pushing up through the earth. Whatever does not function in such manner is bound to be sterile.”

- Alfred Stieglitz

Hello friends,

I would like to start this letter by just saying how grateful I am for your time and interest in this interweb connection we share. I have mad love for y’all.

A pattern has seemingly developed in my experience the past two months: be utterly overwhelmed the growing real estate photography business for the majority of the month, then escape to the mountains toward the end of it to find equanimity and equilibrium again. It’s damn intense, but full and productive and punctuated with tremendous fun.

I’m starting this letter early evening in Silver Gate, Montana, my favorite mountain town. A good friend and I are planning to cook ourselves in the sauna tonight, punctuating the writing. Sitting on an old wooden balcony off the second story of the Range Rider’s Lodge right now, I’m watching swallows swoop and and clouds drifting by Amphitheater Mountain and its cliffs towering over town in the early evening light. There is such peace. There is also such juxtaposition — to the ever-constant hustle back in Phoenix — the strain, stress, and (at times in the days after launching a new booking system this month, even) anguish I have felt at times this July.

It’s odd, oscillating between opposing states of stress and bliss. One day I’m powering weeks into an endless sea of business to-dos, and the next morning I’m riding shotgun in a camouflage Prius over the 11,000ft, breathtaking Beartooth Pass (made famous in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) ringing with the resonance of a deep philosophical dive into the gifts of following curiosity and interest with my ex-employer and good friend Henry. The grind feels a million miles away in but a few moments.

At this juncture, I thought I’d dive deep into that conversation Henry and I had about curiosity, interest, and cultivating one’s inspired engagement with the moment. However, I sense it worth writing a whole article about this and still have another week in the mountains. So tonight, let’s just skim the surface.

I’ll leave you with two seeds from which my interest in interest grew, and a little primer:

1. This three minute clip of Elizabeth Gilbert talking about curiosity and what it means to live a creative life (for anyone who mistakes themselves as “not a creative person,” she has a much more powerful and inclusive definition of what it means to be creative).
   

2. The John Frusciante article I wrote largely about this interview on interest and creativity, I’ve raptly listened to that interview probably half a dozen times now, and I highly recommend it.

While the amount of work this spring and summer has me hemming and hawing sometimes, I consider it vital that I’m interested in just about everything I work on. Building websites, writing, graphic design, photography, videography, flying drones, teaching others, and building community are all things I often do and have genuine interest in. I suspect interest to be a sort of “fountain of youth,” not of “youth” in the sense of age, but “youth” in the sense of the zest, engagement, and interest in life itself that tends to atrophy in adulthood.

By following interest, I believe we can nurture and grow that feeling… More soon.

With love & stoke,

Ethan

P.S. The WONDER WANDER 2022 application closes in just two days on August 2nd!

P.P.S. The road into Yellowstone National Park from Silver Gate was eroded by a “thousand year flood” this May. The local economy relies almost exclusively on tourism and is struggling to draw visitors. Silver Gate Lodging is offering a “pay what you can” deal the rest of the summer, which means you can stay among my favorite range of trail-less giants to wander for anywhere from full price to free.

A New Addition to the Bookshelf:
The Dice Man

The Dice Man shakes things up. Playing with the overlooked role of chance in the universe and our lives, the novel chronicles the wild exploits of Dr. Luke Rhinehart, a bored psychologist who decides to make all decisions with the roll of a dice.

With counter-culture subversiveness, Dr. Rhinehart lays siege to planning and reason. While surely overdoing it at times, he ultimately hits his mark in offering truly intoxicating perspectives of possibility and chance.

Read on >

Two Days Left to Apply to WONDER WANDER 2022

October 13th to 18th 2022 — I'm hosting WONDER WANDER 2022 — a gathering of curious, creative, and adventurous humans for a surreal experience among the upper elevations of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.

We’ll be staying at the Pandora Ranch House, a six bedroom, thirteen bed private hacienda on twenty acres of remote high desert (think grasslands, mesquite trees, and mountains beyond mountains). We’ll ramble desert, bag peaks, stargaze, kick it, cook delicious food together, each attendee will again lead an experience for the group this year… this is an experience of deep connection and kaleidoscopic radness. If you feel called to come, do not hesitate to apply!

Apply here >