"Dive in with your eyes closed
For the life you were born to claim
And the water will be paralyzed
By the courage you contain
And the flutter of your earnest heart
It will fill the silent seas"

~ Ryan O'Neal

Daron LarsonJanuary 9, 2018Sleeping At Last, music, video, courage, time, memory, uncertainty, historyComment

Not Knowing What To Talk About

"Just this physical body right here, the energy in it, is equivalent to 30 hydrogen bombs I have right now. And that’s my only guarantee. I don’t know about tomorrow, but I have right now, and I’ve got this power. What am I going to do with it?"

~ Craig Minowa

Daron LarsonApril 18, 2016Cloud Cult, On Being, Craig Minowa, music, religion, spirituality, history, cultureComment

Difficult To Measure

We give such importance to the word peace, but we don’t tend to notice it when it occurs — or report on it.

Daron LarsonDecember 23, 2015war, violence, perspective, negativity bias, history, memory, Neil Halloran, data visualization, peaceComment

Constant State of Unrest

The universe began with our eyes closed.

Beginning, See OutDaron LarsonSeptember 7, 2015Sleeping At Last, music, change, impermanence, history, expansion/contraction, breath, lifeComment

Stories about the End of Stories

"The dominant story of modernity has been progress. Although still hardwired into our institutions, that story has lost most of its plausibility. new genres are taking its place: apocalypse and nihilism. Apocalypse is the imminent and triumphant conclusion of our most cherished stories. Nihilism is their collapse. Both are stories about the end of stories."

~ David R. Loy

The World at Peace

"The reason that we have the impression that the world is a violent place is that that's what news is about. News is about stuff that happens, not about stuff that doesn't happen, and all the parts of the world that are free of war, that are free of terrorist attacks just don't get reported to us and so we forget about them. We're getting better and better at reporting the violent events that do occur. Something blows up, you can be sure you'll hear about it, but we don't appreciate how much of the world at any given time is at peace."

~ Steven Pinker

Daron LarsonOctober 7, 2014Steven Pinker, TTBOOK, TED, violence, perception, peace, culture, society, war, logical fallacies, illusion, news, story, history, perspective, time, time scaleComment

Many Stories Matter

"Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity." ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Daron LarsonSeptember 6, 2014Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, TED, story, narrative, storytelling, stereotyping, truth, complexity, society, self/other, historyComment

Life after Death

"When I go, I hope someone grabs hold of me. But I have to promise I’m grabbing hold of who's gone before." ~ Dario Robleto

Daron LarsonJuly 28, 2014memory, On Being, death, grief, heaven, time, family, history, gone, art, artists, poetry, sculptureComment

Only One View

Daron LarsonDecember 26, 2013Guy Laramée, Phillip Moffitt, history, ident, identity, memory, narrative, self, sstorytelling, story, worryComment

Strategic Patience

Art and architecture history professor Jennifer Roberts requires her students to write a twenty-page research paper on a single work of art. Before they begin the research, however, they are expected to spend three hours in front of the actual work. No electronic devices. No distractions. They have to rely on their vision, curiosity, and skills of observation to navigate the slow passing of time.

Daron LarsonNovember 4, 2013Alain de Botton, Jennifer Roberts, art, history, paying attention, persistence, waitingComment

Nothing Beside Remains

Daron LarsonOctober 23, 2013Bryan Cranston, Percy Bysshe Shelley, history, impermanence, poetry, power, television, timeComment

Talking About The Indescribable

Daron LarsonJuly 18, 2013Christianity, God, Reza Aslan, history, mysticism, mythology, religion, self/otherComment

Lost Poems, Legends, and Proverbs

"Language reveals a lot about our cognitive system, about how you recognize the world you see around you...Every time you lose a language, you’ve lost part of the picture of what the human intellect is capable of.”

~ David Rood