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I Touched the Sun – a tender illustrated fable about how to find and bear your inner light themarginalian.org/2023/09/28/i-t…

Rebecca Solnit on trees and the shape of time themarginalian.org/2022/02/09/reb…

This is excellent: Octavio Paz on freedom themarginalian.org/2023/10/04/oct…

Roots and the meaning of life themarginalian.org/2026/03/15/roo…

"When I die, I want to be sung across the threshold." Gorgeous gorgeous poem: themarginalian.org/2024/07/05/let…

The continuous creative act of holding on and letting go – 10 beautiful minds on the art of growing older themarginalian.org/2026/03/15/gro…

How to recover your "human-heartedness" – Alan Watts on the Confucian concept of Jen themarginalian.org/2023/09/24/ala…

Leonardo's Brain – a posthumous "brian scan" exploring the secret to his polymathic creativity themarginalian.org/2014/11/17/leo…

Have you ever felt pink sadness, "the sadness of shame when you have done nothing"? Poet Mary Ruefle's emotional color wheel of sadnesses (because to name something is always to soften its edges): themarginalian.org/2020/04/30/mar…

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales." On Einstein's birthday, his delightful advice on education: themarginalian.org/2014/03/14/ein…

Nick Cave on the two pillars of a meaningful life themarginalian.org/2023/11/28/nic…

On Einstein's birthday, his advice on the secret to learning anything themarginalian.org/2013/06/14/ein…

Alain de Botton on the qualities of a healthy mind themarginalian.org/2023/10/25/ala…

For an act of resistance to the tyranny of algorithms, try the Marginalian newsletter—undistracted notes on the search for meaning, free, ad-free, AI-free, fully human since 2006: themarginalian.org/newsletter

"Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us." A Zen classic on transformation through those times when things fall apart: themarginalian.org/2026/03/13/whe…

"The people we love are built into us." Poet May Sarton on the art of living alone themarginalian.org/2026/03/13/may…

User-friendly self-deception – philosopher Amelie Rorty on the value of our delusions and the antidote to the self-defeating ones themarginalian.org/2026/03/13/use…

Sleep and the meaning of life themarginalian.org/2026/02/04/fer…

Artist and philosopher Rockwell Kent returned his borrowed stardust to the universe on this day in 1971, leaving us his immortal wisdom on wilderness, solitude, and creativity themarginalian.org/2022/02/15/roc…

Long before he wrote "The Overstory," Richard Powers was a young author with an old soul who had some excellent advice on life: themarginalian.org/2021/09/12/ric…