Synchronicity is in abundance of late.
A friend in London reached out asking if was interested in putting together a magazine. My first reaction was “no” to a traditional approach, but then replied that there are some other collaborative media models I enjoy at the moment and cited The Flux Review as one example. It remains one of my favourite (and most consistently read) newsletters.
Separately, a couple days later a friend in Idaho forwarded me an email asking “Hey have you come across this publication? I think you’d enjoy it”.
You can guess which one it was.
A worthwhile read if you have any interest in media, blogging, culture or the zeitgeist. Venkatesh Rao has retired his famed blog Ribbonfarm after 17 years.
This long read, along with the passage from the latest Tyler Cowen on Rick Ruben interview I shared last issue, has played a part in my decision to stop my monthly newsletter after almost a decade.
It’s time for letting go.
Watching the PBS Joseph Campbell 6 Part Series and taking inspiration from the historic role of the serpent in certain mythology and the notion of a snake “shedding its skin”.
Fascinating as even then he mentions in the certain cultures the snake has become associated with the villain, while in others remains a much more positive or sacred role.
I have been thinking about this newsletter and writing in the wrong way.
Trying to apply frameworks from brand strategy or product development to try and capture a position or niche to double down on.
These things run counter to my curiosity and where my interests go.
This isn’t a content initiative. This is me.
Asking for feedback from a friend after I sent a new name for the publication with an updated tag line and about statement (after all it’s always nice to reach new readers on Substack), and he replied “leadership & change” are over and wanted “philosophy, life, travel etc. PLEASE!”
Of course those things will remain important for people and business, but I suspect there’s many signals out there that many people have fatigue for a certain types of content.
The same friend shared previously with me.
“Inspiration really comes down to investment of time, now more than ever. Investing 5 seconds in Tiktok and you’ll not get more than 5 seconds of inspiration in return.”
When was the last time you felt inspired?
I guess I had been missing some inspiration lately, especially content wise. My cold swims and saunas have been incredible as winter encroaches. As have my trips to Italy this year. Lived experience is providing the life force right now.
But content? Hmm.
Perhaps it’s a post-content era. People want art. Or at least things that appear to be more real and true. And not overly manufactured.
Then something clicked and woke me up when I heard this poem from David Whyte.
The Blessing Of Morning Light
The blessing of the morning light to you,
may it find you even in your invisible
appearances, may you be seen to have risen
from some other place you know and have known
in the darkness and that that carries all you need.May you see what is hidden in you
as a place of hospitality and shadowed shelter,
may that hidden darkness be your gift to give,
may you hold that shadow to the light
and the silence of that shelter to the word of the light,
may you join all of your previous disappearances
with this new appearance, this new morning,
this being seen again, new and newly alive.
I thought, “Wow. How beautiful.”
On we go.
Best
Jamie
