Collected Goodness ☼
Wisdom, Wonders, and Ways of Living Well
Collected by: Ethan Maurice
POSSIBILITY:
The Ten-Day Vipassana Meditation Course
Back in 2018, I wandered into one of the most radical experiences of my life: a silent, ten-day Vipassana Meditation course. Its effect on my awareness has echoed through every day since.
Sunday night, I was eating ramen with a friend fresh off a six-month sabbatical across Asia. She took the ten-day course in Thailand, and paired with reading The Power of Now afterwards (as I did — total coincidence), had what some might call an “awakening experience.”
While easily the most arduous inner-adventure of my life, what was gained was nothing short of treasure. I’ve heard the same from a dozen friends now. And so, I float the possibility to y’all.
Note: these courses are non-dogmatic, run entirely by volunteers, and they simply ask for a donation at the end (after housing you, feeding you, and expanding your awareness for ten days straight).
PHOTOGRAPH:
Day-Glo Mexico
Nah, it’s not just a photo of a burrito. It’s collective goodness from a little Mexican bachelor party/surf trip this March: musicians buskin’, street dogs beggin’, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test day-gloin’. Twas sharp contrast to the USA: a place so dynamic, communal, and alive.
QUOTE:
A line that hit me so hard I never forgot it. Culture whispers “join the system” or shouts “fight the system!” But in The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell offers a third way.
PODCAST:
“I have divested of meaning.”
A friend once told me of a bad trip in which she looked at everything meaningful in her life, saw through the meaning, and struggled with depression afterwards, unable to find anything meaningful.
Two weeks ago, Michael Pollan was on the Joe Rogan Experience discussing his new book on consciousness. He brought up how this fascinating renaissance-woman and Zen Buddhist convinced him to spend a few days in solitude in a cave before interviewing her. After, she began the interview by saying, “I have divested of meaning.”
It shook me: polar opposite reactions to the absence meaning (one of the most central-to-being-human things).
VIDEO:
TruLens @ The People’s Open
My camera-wielding friends and I crafted what is undoubtedly the highest production-quality video I have yet to have a hand in (while 3D-scanning the most famous hole in golf at The WM People’s Open).
NEW ARTICLE:
Window or Aisle Seat on an Airplane?
Over a century into the age of aviation, there’s a modern-day debate among frequent flyers you’ve likely heard (or maybe even argued):
Which seat is better on an airplane, window or aisle?
There are innumerable articles, videos, and debates over “window vs. aisle” online. Most take a side, offer a rational argument, and break the decision down into a thought-out list of pros and cons.
