42. Terms That Have Fallen Out of Favor
And how you feel about a smudge of light.
TERMS THAT HAVE FALLEN OUT OF FAVOR
She pulled out a piece of brand-new paper, unlined and unsoiled, pitch-white as she used to say when she was a child (before she learned that, broadly speaking, there was no such phrase). On the paper she wrote a list of phrases, one below the other — DUTY GLORY HONOR GOODNESS HUMILITY PURITY and REVERENCE — and then she stopped writing and looked down at the paper.
Then above them she wrote the words TERMS THAT HAVE FALLEN OUT OF FAVOR and underlined the phrase, and then she looked at the paper some more.
A droplet of salted water fell upon the paper, and in the circle of its impact, the paper warped slightly, no longer pitch-white.
ROBERT IRWIN (1928-2023)
I recently skimmed a documentary on the artist Robert Irwin, known as an influential part of the Light and Space movement.
Something he said right at the end of the film was piercingly beautiful. I didn’t write it done verbatim, and couldn’t find the quote online, and don’t really feel like scanning through the documentary to find the exact phrasing, but it was speaking about looking at light, the way it affects you.
He said you feel a pang in your heart when you see the dying of a smudge of light. A feeling of awe. He said that’s at the heart of being human.
MORE AMBIENT MUSIC
I’ve recently been releasing music aimed at different language markets. All of it quiet, calm, designed for low-level listening. Here’s a podcast gathering the last month or so’s work:
If you like this newsletter, please do tell a friend. And if you want more, may I humbly recommend to you my first novel, The Forest Museum.
