Jules Bastien-Lepage,1873, Diogenes
Mind

The Cowardly Cynic

Are the cynics of the world bold realisers of truth? Or do they actually just lack the real courage it takes to have hope? With quotes from Wilde & more.

Albrecht Dürer, 1508, Praying Hands
Meaning, Mind

A Prayer from the Unresolved

If you aren’t certain of God’s existence, or what God even means, what would bring you to pray? With quotes from Dostoevsky, Coleridge & Duffy.

Frederic William Burton, 1840, In Joyce Country
Mind

Walking with Worry

With all this noise we fail to see anything around us. We cannot see the sun shining in the clear blue sky or feel the new touch of warmth in the breeze. As if with a message, a loud series of short, sharp calls suddenly come from overhead.

Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857, New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Ōji
Circumstance

New Year, New King

A New Year in ancient Babylon. The particulars of the ceremonial pomp may be different, but the idea of a new year is the same. A look at the humbling of the king and what the coming of a new year means for us today. With quotes from Hal Borland, T. S. Eliot & more.

Caravaggio, 1597-99, Narcissus
Circumstance, Meaning

Get out of Your Own Way

Get out of your own way. Once the obstruction is released there is life that will flow. And this is the truth. Life still exists beyond what hinders us. With quotes from Tolstoy, Descartes, Schuller & Seneca.

Antonina Rzhevskaya, 1897, A Merry Moment
Meaning, Virtue

The Glow of Enthusiasm

Fatalism is a dead-end road and enthusiasm isn’t something we can ever afford to abandon. With quotes from Bishop Doane, R.W Emerson, D. Carnegie & F. Guizot.

Osmar Schindler, 1888, "David und Goliath". Colour lithograph
Meaning, Virtue

The Function of Fear

Fear offers us a very plain choice; be courageous or be a coward. A hero or a reprobate. With quotes from Michel de Montaigne, Seneca, George R.R. Martin & William Shakespeare.