The Art of Being Alone
Loneliness has more to do with our perceptions than how much company we have. It’s just as possible to be painfully lonely surrounded by people as it is to be content with little social contact. Some …
Art
The Trojan Horse: When True Intents Are Concealed
A Trojan Horse is an innocuous appearing container for hiding something within to get past defenses or some other obstacle. Trojan Horses can be used for both good and evil. Here’s how to recognize …
Is Human Progress Real or An Illusion?
Against the historical backdrop of nations, morals and religions that rise and fall, “the idea of progress finds itself in dubious shape”, according to Will and Ariel Durant in their …
Agnes Martin on The Secret of Happiness
“The best things in life happen to you when you’re alone.” *** Agnes Martin was a famous abstract painter and minimalist. In this short interview with Chuck Smith and Sono Kuwayama …
Rendez-Vous with Art: The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Art
Philippe de Montebello was the longest-serving Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1977-2008). Martin Gayford was an acclaimed art critic. Their book, Rendez-Vous with Art, is …
The Creative Process in 10 Acts
“It’s good to understand that it’s all a process and it’s going to take you to a new place. And I try to remind myself … to enjoy the process.” *** In this short …
The Simplest Way to Achieve Simplicity is Through Thoughtful Reduction
A close friend of mine argues that while we love the first part of Einstein’s quote, “Everything should be made as simple as possible,” we ignore the second part “but not …
Seuss-isms: A Guide to Life for Those Just Starting Out and Those Already on Their Way
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was the famous children’s book author. He was also a philosopher. Seuss-isms! A Guide to Life for Those Just Starting Out…and Those Already …
Vincent van Gogh on Color
In a letter to his brother Theo, dated July 1882, found in Ever Yours: The Essential Letters, Vincent van Gogh describes how the simple few fundamentals combine into nearly endless permutations. …
What A Rembrandt Can Teach you about Software and Programmers
A thoughtful passage by David Gelernter in Mirror Worlds: or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox…How It Will Happen and What It Will Mean on how looking at a Rembrandt can teach us …
Vincent van Gogh on Why Never Learning How to Paint Helped
In a letter to his brother Theo, dated September 1882, found in Ever Yours: The Essential Letters, Vincent van Gogh describes the advantages of never learning to paint. While making it I said to …
Vincent van Gogh on the Two Types of Idlers
The anthology Ever Yours: The Essential Letters, contains 265 of Vincent van Gogh’s letters, which is nearly a third of all the surviving letters he penned. In a long and winding letter to his brother …
Vincent van Gogh on How To Live
Van Gogh didn’t become popular until shortly after his death. To this day it’s unclear whether his letters drove the initial interest in his art. The anthology Ever Yours: The Essential …
Building a Business and Making Your Mark
Building the perfect business is about finding the balance between what you have to offer and what the world wants. In this post, we hear from Sebastian Thrun, co-founder of Udacity, about some of the …
The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge
“There certainly have been many new things in the world of visualization; but unless you know its history, everything might seem novel.” — Michael Friendly *** It’s tempting to consider information …
The Notebooks of Paul Klee
“Ingres is said to have created an artistic order out of rest; I should like to create an order from feeling and, going still further, from motion.” *** Paul Klee was a painter who wrote …