Can someone please chisel this into some limestone?
“We have forgotten what it is really like to receive: news, phone calls, telegrams, good-mornings and farewells, the change the grocer left on the counter, insults, jokes, gifts. True acts of generosity carry in them an earnest invitation. They are not charitable, rather, they manage to make us feel that we have something of value to offer.”
It's a deep and beautiful text. In a taoist perspective, it is about trying to be yin in a yang world. It reminds me of the samurais who were instructed to use a little makeup, in order not to become yang monsters. It also reminds me of some wonderful musical plays where the silence between the notes is more expressive than the notes themselves (for instance, Morricone's "Le vent, le cri"). I am craving for silence amongst this unbearable noise. And I know that, some day, it is through silence that we will all step into eternity. Thank you again, Sophia.
Yesterday at the Apple store, I was given an extra phone cover, for free. I did not need it so I asked a lady sitting near me if she wanted it. I didn't do it to make myself feel that I had something valuable to offer, I did it because I had no use for it and maybe she did. She was extremely grateful which I appreciated. But if she hadn't been, it also would have been fine.
A random act of kindness, good on you. And how many on here say Good morning/afternoon to the person sitting at the check-out, and when leaving thank them? Just asking like.
I never let an interaction go by without saying good (whatever the hell time of day it is) and I continue saying it until there is no one left to hear it! JK! but yeah, I try to acknowledge peoples' existence in ways other than just throwing money at them for services rendered.
I always say Good morning/ Good afternoon, etc. to the people in my community. It's such a simple gesture and it feels good to the receiver and the giver. Kindness Matters is one of the phrases I live by.
I always engage people with a greeting: How are you today? and wait for an answer before I continue any conversation. I use their name if available. It really calms them down immediately.
I ask my kid when he comes home from school, “any RAK’s or BBL’s to tell me about?”. This often gets me a great story (BBL’s= Big Belly Laughs) but it also makes him think about anything kind other people have done for him.
Actually we all have something of value to offer others. True acts of generosity are best described as Random acts of Kindness to everyone and everything.
I gotta say, THIS is one of the few, indisputably GREAT essays of your generation, Sophia. I am glad that I stopped yakking long enough to fall under your spell.
It seems almost rude to comment on this because its so prescient and beautifully written. It reminded me of 4'33" a composition by John Cage. The piece is 4 minutes and 33 seconds of nothing being played by the orchestra. It's actually quite amazing what you notice when this happens, the sound of someone coughing, the HVAC system in the auditorium, a crinkling candy wrapper, someone whispering to someone else, the sound of a program falling to the floor, the sound of your own heartbeat and breathing, an uncomfortable giggle.... There is so much in the world to pay attention to that we just ignore. Instead of marveling at the world around us we bury ourselves in this electronic wasteland and somehow we feel like that connects us.
Your essay made me think of this quote often attributed t Lincoln: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."
Although I post an essay every week and to me that's being somewhat of a blabbermouth.
Love the attention to the silence and how it can enhance something. Perhaps that's not what you meant but that's where my mind went. I don't know if I can agree with the generalisation that we don't know how to receive. You'll find people who do and don't. But I wouldn't dare to say that for everyone. My favourite line was the "shared silences" being "a fusion of conscience." So poetic, sends you on a journey as reader. Silence as a theme can be quite fascinating and you've touched upon some of the features. Attention to silence from now on.
Good to find you away from your own nook, Writer Pilgrim. You are still among my favorites with your beautiful working of poetry.
My addition to this easy going trail of nice thoughts is a combination of pulling myself free of the torment I've put my brain through in the traumas of my life and slowly giving myself room to free myself from the ruins of my fight to end the clashing together of the corroding American spirit.
My health is destroyed by my struggles with reality and the abject desire to somehow enjoy what little is left of my retirement.
The mood here along with the experience of living inside your poetry is a boon to my recovery. This may be the light at the end of my tunnel.
So great to see you here and thank you kindly for your sincere words. If there ever is need for more poetry in your life then you now where to find it. Poetry is meditative and healing and glad it serves as a recovery boost. Your message is helpful in more ways than you can imagine and means as much to me as poetry does to you. Your response shows there are ways we receive and accept and recognise each other and give thanks. As Sophia’s piece states maybe humanity has left the crossroads where we say thanks but everyone hasn’t. Thank you for your superfan message.
Sophia, this was a cathartic experience—thank you! It’s easy to forget that silence isn’t the absence of thought, but rather the precondition for something deeper—something that invites the kind of connection that is becoming all too rare.
This was so exquisite to read. I immediately wanted to get off my phone but wanted to share my appreciation first. (Side note, I think the best sign of anything well written is to immediately want to leave it, like picking up a book of poetry but only being able to read one because it's so perfectly nourishing you want to sit in it for a while and take that sustenance with you throughout your day).
Reading this made me think of Terrence Milack's films, or the absolutely breathtaking documentary Faya Dayi (I'm certain not a single frame in it is less than museum or gallery worthy). Their tempo, in some ways, forces you to receive them as they invite you into their gentle fluidity. I sometimes consider them (or other works like them) a barometer for my own state of receivership and presence; if I cannot allow beauty to penetrate me, then I take it as a sign that I am malnourished in some way (unable to receive somewhere in my life).
I use Sundays as a day of self nourishment—often in total silence for the whole day—so this is the perfect treat to read before bed as such a day awaits. Thank you for sharing it x
I am all about gracefully receiving from others. I haven’t always been, but once I embraced the joy it brought to giver and receiver I made a conscious choice to appreciate the privilege of either of those acts. Giving came way more natural, but receiving with honest gratitude is really great too!
Sophia’s post was well thought out, and I’m sure there will be a swell of gratitude as more see the joy others receive when we express our appreciation of their thoughtfulness.
Beautiful, beautiful sentiments. I needed this today. I keep having a little panic that Substack is/will become the same as the rest with the posts about monetization and growing your business. I know many of us would love to make money from our writing, but the primary reason for being here (for me) is to be in a community with fellow writers. To learn. To support. To share. To practice.
"...to be considered art at all must fulfill its duty to receive us generously, and where successful, create more space within us for reception." That's a new perspective to consider, I like that.
“We are encouraged to either claim our space in them by projecting aggressively, or to continuously dismiss what we are being offered with a swift swipe.”
It’s true and exhausting. I’ve experienced it as an artist and consumer. For aspiring writers, like myself, it’s daunting to think that we must “aggressively project” our work or no one will receive it… or we share our thoughts passively but people are too numb to stop scrolling. They barely notice…
Can someone please chisel this into some limestone?
“We have forgotten what it is really like to receive: news, phone calls, telegrams, good-mornings and farewells, the change the grocer left on the counter, insults, jokes, gifts. True acts of generosity carry in them an earnest invitation. They are not charitable, rather, they manage to make us feel that we have something of value to offer.”
Yes, that was my favorite part too.
Me too💗
me too
Very good
It's a deep and beautiful text. In a taoist perspective, it is about trying to be yin in a yang world. It reminds me of the samurais who were instructed to use a little makeup, in order not to become yang monsters. It also reminds me of some wonderful musical plays where the silence between the notes is more expressive than the notes themselves (for instance, Morricone's "Le vent, le cri"). I am craving for silence amongst this unbearable noise. And I know that, some day, it is through silence that we will all step into eternity. Thank you again, Sophia.
Yes, but... it seems you do have something to say. Or believe you have something worth receiving, if there is a difference.
Thanks for offering a path to consider this gathering momentum of thoughtfulness and peace.
Yesterday at the Apple store, I was given an extra phone cover, for free. I did not need it so I asked a lady sitting near me if she wanted it. I didn't do it to make myself feel that I had something valuable to offer, I did it because I had no use for it and maybe she did. She was extremely grateful which I appreciated. But if she hadn't been, it also would have been fine.
A random act of kindness, good on you. And how many on here say Good morning/afternoon to the person sitting at the check-out, and when leaving thank them? Just asking like.
I never let an interaction go by without saying good (whatever the hell time of day it is) and I continue saying it until there is no one left to hear it! JK! but yeah, I try to acknowledge peoples' existence in ways other than just throwing money at them for services rendered.
I always say Good morning/ Good afternoon, etc. to the people in my community. It's such a simple gesture and it feels good to the receiver and the giver. Kindness Matters is one of the phrases I live by.
I always engage people with a greeting: How are you today? and wait for an answer before I continue any conversation. I use their name if available. It really calms them down immediately.
I ask my kid when he comes home from school, “any RAK’s or BBL’s to tell me about?”. This often gets me a great story (BBL’s= Big Belly Laughs) but it also makes him think about anything kind other people have done for him.
Actually we all have something of value to offer others. True acts of generosity are best described as Random acts of Kindness to everyone and everything.
All except me. I just keep throwing it all out there and getting a few pity likes. But it's okay, I think I was an illegal fisherman in my past life.
How did you get your username icon to spin around like that? I haven't seen anyone else with your technological brilliance
Limestone.. How about Granite??
Granite would take 100 times the power to carve than limestone. The limestone carving would last LONG past our lifetimes anyway.
Perhaps also The Moon?
Rhodium! a big ol' chunk of it.
They are acts of grace. 'Graceful' is different from 'elegant,' but they are good friends!
Being simply deliberate is acting with grace, and they easily elicit replies and responses.
A lot of wisdom in this essay from someone with nothing to say, and beautifuly said too.
I gotta say, THIS is one of the few, indisputably GREAT essays of your generation, Sophia. I am glad that I stopped yakking long enough to fall under your spell.
Genuinely . . .new and BRILLIANT!!
My E. Jean!!!!!!! what a thing to say!!
It is a brain-changer, Sophia!
Brilliant! SO ARE YOU, E. Jean. Inspirational.
It seems almost rude to comment on this because its so prescient and beautifully written. It reminded me of 4'33" a composition by John Cage. The piece is 4 minutes and 33 seconds of nothing being played by the orchestra. It's actually quite amazing what you notice when this happens, the sound of someone coughing, the HVAC system in the auditorium, a crinkling candy wrapper, someone whispering to someone else, the sound of a program falling to the floor, the sound of your own heartbeat and breathing, an uncomfortable giggle.... There is so much in the world to pay attention to that we just ignore. Instead of marveling at the world around us we bury ourselves in this electronic wasteland and somehow we feel like that connects us.
Thank you.
Reminded me of John Cage also. "I have nothing to say and I am saying it."
Jacob: Your observation of is very much on point.
Hi Sophia,
Your essay made me think of this quote often attributed t Lincoln: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."
Although I post an essay every week and to me that's being somewhat of a blabbermouth.
I think my point is that that's ok!
But- you are good,man!
Love the attention to the silence and how it can enhance something. Perhaps that's not what you meant but that's where my mind went. I don't know if I can agree with the generalisation that we don't know how to receive. You'll find people who do and don't. But I wouldn't dare to say that for everyone. My favourite line was the "shared silences" being "a fusion of conscience." So poetic, sends you on a journey as reader. Silence as a theme can be quite fascinating and you've touched upon some of the features. Attention to silence from now on.
Good to find you away from your own nook, Writer Pilgrim. You are still among my favorites with your beautiful working of poetry.
My addition to this easy going trail of nice thoughts is a combination of pulling myself free of the torment I've put my brain through in the traumas of my life and slowly giving myself room to free myself from the ruins of my fight to end the clashing together of the corroding American spirit.
My health is destroyed by my struggles with reality and the abject desire to somehow enjoy what little is left of my retirement.
The mood here along with the experience of living inside your poetry is a boon to my recovery. This may be the light at the end of my tunnel.
Richard La France
So great to see you here and thank you kindly for your sincere words. If there ever is need for more poetry in your life then you now where to find it. Poetry is meditative and healing and glad it serves as a recovery boost. Your message is helpful in more ways than you can imagine and means as much to me as poetry does to you. Your response shows there are ways we receive and accept and recognise each other and give thanks. As Sophia’s piece states maybe humanity has left the crossroads where we say thanks but everyone hasn’t. Thank you for your superfan message.
I read your comment nodding my head and thinking: "Yes, I know." "Yes, I understand."
Sophia, this was a cathartic experience—thank you! It’s easy to forget that silence isn’t the absence of thought, but rather the precondition for something deeper—something that invites the kind of connection that is becoming all too rare.
Truly, you spoke the meaning of your name
This was so exquisite to read. I immediately wanted to get off my phone but wanted to share my appreciation first. (Side note, I think the best sign of anything well written is to immediately want to leave it, like picking up a book of poetry but only being able to read one because it's so perfectly nourishing you want to sit in it for a while and take that sustenance with you throughout your day).
Reading this made me think of Terrence Milack's films, or the absolutely breathtaking documentary Faya Dayi (I'm certain not a single frame in it is less than museum or gallery worthy). Their tempo, in some ways, forces you to receive them as they invite you into their gentle fluidity. I sometimes consider them (or other works like them) a barometer for my own state of receivership and presence; if I cannot allow beauty to penetrate me, then I take it as a sign that I am malnourished in some way (unable to receive somewhere in my life).
I use Sundays as a day of self nourishment—often in total silence for the whole day—so this is the perfect treat to read before bed as such a day awaits. Thank you for sharing it x
Nothing to say? I fully agree. Just write Sophia.
I am all about gracefully receiving from others. I haven’t always been, but once I embraced the joy it brought to giver and receiver I made a conscious choice to appreciate the privilege of either of those acts. Giving came way more natural, but receiving with honest gratitude is really great too!
Sophia’s post was well thought out, and I’m sure there will be a swell of gratitude as more see the joy others receive when we express our appreciation of their thoughtfulness.
Indeed.
Beautiful, beautiful sentiments. I needed this today. I keep having a little panic that Substack is/will become the same as the rest with the posts about monetization and growing your business. I know many of us would love to make money from our writing, but the primary reason for being here (for me) is to be in a community with fellow writers. To learn. To support. To share. To practice.
Thank you, Sophia.
I do have something too say. Enjoyed your Substack.
Rock star. Could have quoted the entire post. Missed you in Paris, maybe catch you in NYC in March
"...to be considered art at all must fulfill its duty to receive us generously, and where successful, create more space within us for reception." That's a new perspective to consider, I like that.
So many good parts to quote. One of my favorites:
“We are encouraged to either claim our space in them by projecting aggressively, or to continuously dismiss what we are being offered with a swift swipe.”
It’s true and exhausting. I’ve experienced it as an artist and consumer. For aspiring writers, like myself, it’s daunting to think that we must “aggressively project” our work or no one will receive it… or we share our thoughts passively but people are too numb to stop scrolling. They barely notice…