The Lord of the Rings trilogy inspired me to write a themed murder mystery that all of my friends had to participate in (in costume, of course). I’m sure some of them weren’t as excited to dress up and embrace their given character (like I was), but I appreciated that they still participated and enjoyed trying something new.
i seriously thought you'd have thousands of views and subscribers... this was one of the most impactful videos i've watched in a while, i can't wait to see how far you'll go.
thank you so much! :) I’m very much enjoying sharing my thoughts and it’s been so great to hear that they’re resonating with people. this is #5 and I’ll see how many more I have in my system. thanks for the encouragement!
This video was so inspiring to me. I've lived most of my life with debilitating social anxiety and seeing this gave me some inspiration to talk to people today, so thank you (:
wow that makes this whole process worth it for me. I’m glad for you! and also don’t forget that participation doesn’t always mean extroversion so don’t feel like you need to perform. but I’m very glad it encouraged you :) thanks for sharing!
The Solace of Open Spaces and Sailing Alone Around the World both fell into my lap via public "take a book, leave a book" boxes in different states. Read em both last spring/summer in the most difficult season of my life and they were instrumental in teaching me the importance of solitude and exploring-- getting out of your comfort zone!!! (oh let's buy a plane ticket on a thursday and fly to TN on a saturday to pick up an old van and drive it to FL!)
those both sound terrific. might look at sailing alone around the world - sounds inspiring! love how books don’t have to be directly instructional to instruct you in your own life.
thanks for a timely video. recently, i've been feeling isolated by my own hand, and i'm struggling to take action in my life. in small ways i've been working on facing fears and forcing myself to engage with the world. a book i consistently reflect on in this vein is A Gentleman in Moscow, with the quote: “if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.” the main character is bound to spend the rest of his life in a hotel, yet he still maintains his dignity and quests for meaning. i need to remember i am not limited so much by my environment as i am myself.
thank you for sharing and for engaging with this video! you got this :) remember too that engaging really can be small actions or even just presence, it doesn’t have to be mosh pits!
I had the EXACT same experience at a concert I went to, I went for the opener who was not at all a hardcore punk artist, so when the first chord played and I got swept 20 feet forwards and 20 feet back I was completely out of my element, but I was laughing like a maniac because it was just so funny. I left because I had a fragile camera, but as I left I realized I should've found a place to store the camera and go participate. This is an awesome video
wow that really is the exact same experience. glad to know I’m not the only one. and I maybe should have put my phone away instead of filming … pretty sure there was a high risk of dropping it and losing or breaking it. But I wanted the footage to show how it felt so I risked it. Didn’t know I’d make this video then, but the footage sure came in handy. Thanks for watching & I hope you enjoy the rest of the series! (Even the ones that don’t have music references!)
Its awesome the way you express the idea of participating in life. Some things can be scary or maybe you are not sure if you are going to like it, but just the willingness to try to participate in something opens you up to a lot more things and enjoyment from life. Being someone who has gone to hundreds of metal shows and rock concerts it's hard to look back at what it was like before participating in a mosh pit or just being allowed and aggressive concert. But after the first time you get in there it gets a lot easier and you realize how much fun it actually is, and you have some experiences where maybe it's a little more rough than you would expect and maybe you come out with a bruise or two but you survived, you did the thing, and for the most part you had fun. I'm glad that you could get so much from this book about participating in life and it's cool that the participation you took part in was just being in a mosh pit, it doesn't always have to be some grand life-altering experience sometimes it's as simple as just move in your body to some music, or playing human pinball with other sweaty people. Great video!
thanks for watching and your thoughts! I’ve been told there are much more aggressive mosh pits than the one I was part of, so jury’s still out on whether I’ll attempt another. But metaphorically, I’m all about the mosh pit now :) Yeah it doesn’t have to be a giant experience! Maybe even trying a new restaurant instead of the same thing every time. Thanks for watching!
I am not a musician, but I LOVE to play music. When I was a teenager, I heard Jimi Hendrix and wanted to play that music. So I bought a white Strat, just like Hendrix, and taught myself how to play. When I was in my 40's, I happened to hear "Take Five" while waiting at a counter in a store. I JUST had to play that!! So I taught myself how to play drums, to be like Joe Morello. Then started applying my guitar stuff in the Jazz realm, learned some theory and began to see the beauty of the whole enterprise. But, then, I started to hear things in Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie that had previously made me a little ill (!!) and all of the sudden, I just had to play some Bird stuff on a horn. So picked up a cheap clarinet for 6 months, got my embouchure together then got a cheap Alto which I have been playing ow for about a year. The point? Loving a "thing" from the sidelines only goes so far. You have to DO that thing in order to truly love it. Because only then do you actually begin to understand it, be overwhelmed by it, want to quit, but keep pushing ahead because the beauty and appeal is now REAL to you. It can't be denied. This only scratches the surface. The depth of the love goes only as far as the depth of the thing which is loved. My children. My wife. Christ Jesus. Only in DOING the thing, experiencing the thing, does love become real. Thanks for this series, great work here.
you sure sound like a musician to me! I see where Paul gets it from :) yeah doing things is the way to go if you really wanna “get it”. thanks so much for sharing!
what if you love so many things from the sidelines that you dont know which thing to start with! I have so many "things" I would love to do, but I dont want to close my options and dedicate myself to one craft. I know i will probably like it, but I want to be sure of what I wanna go after and chase it with my all. Its a question ive been battling for a while, but a fun one and im enjoying the journey of discovery. But your statement "loving a thing from the sidelines only goes so far" really stuck out since thats what ive been doing for a while. I dont want to immerse myself in what im not sure of when I have so many other passions and ideas, but I know I cant research every possible venue out there. I would love an answer to this dilemna and possibly if you relate to it, id love hear the story, thanks :).
I finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close last week, and it had a lot of beautiful themes and takeaways. The grandmas letters especially stuck with me, and reminded me to cherish the connections we have with other people, and how important they really are. Also, for the last year or so ive been trying to read more instead of being on my phone so much, and the good points of this series serve as great motivation. Keep up the good work!
extremely loud and incredibly close sounds exactly like the concert I was at! :) but sounds like a great book. Glad you enjoyed it & are enjoying the videos! good luck getting off your phone, I’m trying too :)
TH-cam has been recommending me all your videos, and I think they're great! I'm a teen reader that loves making art based of different scenes and quotes from my favourite books so I can add to the conversation from people who love them too. :) Most recently, I did a painting inspired by The Handmaid's Tale and displayed it at an art show.
@@timdemoss It is def a great read. Very heartfelt. It has a lot of chapters, as the chapters are sometimes as short as a page or less. Arguably not much happens, but it is so captivating and moving. I hope you check it out and enjoy it
Silent Spring pushed me to try and spend more time outside and truly value the thing I’m learning about (environmental engineering) and Braiding Sweetgrass told me that I am not a net negative to that environment, I can give.
Wow I’m loving this reasons to read series! Ive been getting back into reading after several years of not reading and it’s been great. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Excellent recommend by the algorithm, loved the vid! I remember reading "At the existentialist cafe" by Sarah Bakewell in the midst of some of the worst that 2020 had to offer. And I don't know that it made me take a particular action so much as consider my mindset and all future actions. Reading and understanding how people endured and overcame the massive challenges of Europe in the 1930s-1940s and how some philosophers chose to embrace the absurdity of life and lean into breathing in every experience. Idk man, it just really pushed me to challenge how I was living through my own troubled times. Very excited to enjoy more of your musings ✨
thanks for the well thought out response! haven’t read that book but like how you mentioned it might not inspire a specific action in the moment, but is fuel for your future actions. glad to have you around!
Stoicism and Nietzsche have inspired me to take charge over all the problems in my life -internally and externally- and to view these things not as indicative of life being worse for their presence, but rather opportunities for me to make something beautiful out of it. A quote from Carl Jung which continuously inspires me to use free time to read, write and study is - “no matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.” And I’ve found it to be incredibly true. Treating my alone time as an opportunity to keep engaging with the world by sharpening my mind and having conversations with people far smarter than me through the book has done a lot for me in day to day life
I found the quote you cited in French, in the original text: "Le métier de témoin m’a toujours fait horreur. Que suis-je, si je ne participe pas ? J’ai besoin, pour être, de participer.". Literally, it means "The witness' occupation/role has always horrified me. What am I, if I don't participate? I need, in order to be, to participate." I love comparing translations so I thought you might be interested to know what the original quote sounds like in French! 😊
I read Margaret Atwood's The Cat's Eye and had a strong emotional reaction. It made me think that maybe my childhood was a bit messed up and that I should try to unpack that.
Your moshpit story is so funny to me, because I had a similar moment a few weeks ago, when I was at a concert on my own and first stood back from the most pit, as I'd usually do if I was with a friend. But then I thought fuck it, nobody's watching, nobody cares what I do and pretty much just jumped in. Was a little terrifying, but funnily much less stressful than being outside / at the edge of it. So yeah. Participating. Trying to be more present and intentional with all things is generally a goal of mine. And this video reminded me of that, so thank you!
I read a book called Breadsong. It’s a nonfiction about a girl who ‘s breakmaking pulls her out of a depression, so she opens a bakery with her dad. I’ve since then started baking more and even made a bunch of mini loaves to give to friends.
Hello Tim! I've serendipitously stumbled across this video of yours today. Hello from another participant :) This was a lovely video to come across, as this is a question that I've been pondering in the back of my mind for a while now. As to your question, I think the author who always makes me want to engage with life is Ursula K. Le Guin, without question. I am a philosophy student and writer, so her approach to writing engages me in two ways at once. I'm currently rereading one of her works, and my favourite book of all time, The Dispossessed. There's a moment in which the narrator of the book, Shevek--a theoretical physicist in search of a general temporal theory--speaks to a crowd of angry workers. A particular passage strikes me each time. "We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. And the hand that you reach out is empty, as mine is. You have nothing. You possess nothing. You own nothing. You are free. All you have is what you are, and what you give."
So glad you stumbled across it! I feel like I need awhile to unpack that quote and would love to read it in context. Thanks for your thoughts and for participating!
I love your content! Very quick touching stories that bring both value and soul. Would definetely enjoy long form from you! book: Piranesi from Susanna Clarke, gave me enough inspiration and wonder with the world to help me go through a tough design project.
thank you!! I try to condense them a little bit but maybe I’ll venture into longer stuff sometime. If you’ve got ideas let me know & I’ll be happy to experiment. Love the word wonder - I’ll check out Piranesi!
I am deeply enjoying your videos and this series! the storytelling, visuals, and intentional choice to choose one idea to express all these elements are captivating from beginning to end. your videos are inspiring entertaining and educational in the philosophical self-reflective kind of way.
your channel is great. sharing my experience, reading infinite jest, specially because of the character of hal incandenza, made me start to smoke marihuana more frequently and to stop talking to people about my feelings. heh
I’ve only heard crazy things about this book, and this adds to the intrigue…hope you found some other books that encouraged you to open up more eventually! thanks for watching !
My kids and I read a picture book about a pet potato. So of course they needed their own pet potatoes. This just happened to be the day that Kate Messner (author of some awesome children's books) was visiting our library. So of course my 6yo had to bring her pet potato to meet her too.
what a fun and wholesome adventure! :) I vaguely remember doing a potato experiment in elementary school where we let the “eyes” grow towards holes in a box… hadn’t thought of that in years but this reminded me. random I know. thanks for sharing!
The Trouble with Poetry - Billy Collins inspired me to try writing a poem. After years and years of not "getting" poetry, I finally found some that I enjoyed in his collection of poems. And the trouble with poetry is that it makes you want to write more poetry 😂
I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and it made me desperately want to enjoy video games because of how the book presented it. It sounded like a blast so I tried playing some different video games alone and with my brother. I soon realized the video gaming world is not for me as I thought, but I’m happy the book inspired me to try!
Book that spurred me to action was a nonfiction anthropological book called Land Of Open Graves by Jason de Leon. It’s about US border crossers and how the US border regime uses the hybrid collective of the Sonoran desert to kill and erase the bodies of crossers, creating a space of exception for them where their life is valued less and their death is of little consequence. It’s such a brutal book and it’s a rare example of how photos can really bring nonfiction humanities/social science writing to reality. He writes on academic issues but without any pretence or pomp, it’s so open and reflexive and glorious, but it’s really upsetting too. That book pushed me towards working on my masters thesis in new ways and led to me reconsidering my relationship to my work and to academia more broadly. Probably my favourite book I’ve ever read - you might like it :)
The book that inspired me to participate was "Around The World In Eighty Days" by Jules Verne - it's just so moving that someone would go on a journey like that for something silly like a bet and then find something unexpected, much greater at the end!
Read Just Kids by Patti Smith right before moving to New York City when I was 18. I walked around the city finding all the spots she mentions in her books and felt very romantic. :)
finding the specific spot mentioned is always fun! I remember standing at Canal & Bowery in New York and thinking “This is where the Lumineers were talking about”
DallerGut Dream Department Store is about a store deep in everyone's subconscious field of mind, wherever people go to bed and are in dream mode. That book motivates to sleep on time and to sleep enough.
Narcissus and Goldmund, by Herman Hesse, pretty much informed the hedonism of my 15 - 25 year old self. It shows how there can be dignity and learning in sensualism. Then, when I was recovering from the consequences of that, a lot less confident, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k showed me how to throw myself into adult life without perfect preconditions. I know the last one isn't literature, but it's not a bad book tbh.
I read ‘’My mother’s castle’’ by Marcel Pagnol and it encouraged me to create more memories with mine since I’ve been a bit distant during puberty (I’m 18, so in the last part of it ☝🏻.
the line "everything in life is writable" from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath spurred me to keep creating art and try bridge the gap between the mind and the material. i've learned to stop being a perfectionist and find joy in the mere attempt. i love getting book recs from you and my to-read list has grown so much after I subscribed! do you happen to have a goodreads account?
the gap between the mind and the mental - love how you phrased that. It’s a challenge for sure. And I do have a Goodreads but I use it just as a tracker - I don’t rate or review or share anything there :)
I read Alkibiades by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, a suberb Dutch author. It made me appreciate the power of rhetoric and understand the frailty of democracy.
I clicked, no real expectation...why I'm getting so emotional listen this 6:42 videos? Actually, Epictetus teach me how to stop participating into what is not my concerns. And its a lot, mentally.
all i want to say is thank you, kind stranger 🤍 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson got me to pursue my passion for writing through journalism, and I am now enrolled in university as a journalism major haha
"Saint Ex would mosh right now" is an absolutely unhinged quote out of context, I love it
yeah it’s strange what can pass through your head in certain moments XD
The Lord of the Rings trilogy inspired me to write a themed murder mystery that all of my friends had to participate in (in costume, of course). I’m sure some of them weren’t as excited to dress up and embrace their given character (like I was), but I appreciated that they still participated and enjoyed trying something new.
my favorite part was Paul in the Legolas wig. By far
i seriously thought you'd have thousands of views and subscribers... this was one of the most impactful videos i've watched in a while, i can't wait to see how far you'll go.
thank you so much! :) I’m very much enjoying sharing my thoughts and it’s been so great to hear that they’re resonating with people. this is #5 and I’ll see how many more I have in my system. thanks for the encouragement!
My dad took me on a camping trip floating down the Suwanee river for a couple days after we read Huck Finn.
what an awesome idea. thanks Paul for inspiring the whole episode !
This video was so inspiring to me. I've lived most of my life with debilitating social anxiety and seeing this gave me some inspiration to talk to people today, so thank you (:
wow that makes this whole process worth it for me. I’m glad for you! and also don’t forget that participation doesn’t always mean extroversion so don’t feel like you need to perform. but I’m very glad it encouraged you :) thanks for sharing!
The Solace of Open Spaces and Sailing Alone Around the World both fell into my lap via public "take a book, leave a book" boxes in different states. Read em both last spring/summer in the most difficult season of my life and they were instrumental in teaching me the importance of solitude and exploring-- getting out of your comfort zone!!! (oh let's buy a plane ticket on a thursday and fly to TN on a saturday to pick up an old van and drive it to FL!)
those both sound terrific. might look at sailing alone around the world - sounds inspiring! love how books don’t have to be directly instructional to instruct you in your own life.
thanks for a timely video. recently, i've been feeling isolated by my own hand, and i'm struggling to take action in my life. in small ways i've been working on facing fears and forcing myself to engage with the world. a book i consistently reflect on in this vein is A Gentleman in Moscow, with the quote: “if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.”
the main character is bound to spend the rest of his life in a hotel, yet he still maintains his dignity and quests for meaning. i need to remember i am not limited so much by my environment as i am myself.
thank you for sharing and for engaging with this video! you got this :) remember too that engaging really can be small actions or even just presence, it doesn’t have to be mosh pits!
I had the EXACT same experience at a concert I went to, I went for the opener who was not at all a hardcore punk artist, so when the first chord played and I got swept 20 feet forwards and 20 feet back I was completely out of my element, but I was laughing like a maniac because it was just so funny. I left because I had a fragile camera, but as I left I realized I should've found a place to store the camera and go participate. This is an awesome video
wow that really is the exact same experience. glad to know I’m not the only one. and I maybe should have put my phone away instead of filming … pretty sure there was a high risk of dropping it and losing or breaking it. But I wanted the footage to show how it felt so I risked it. Didn’t know I’d make this video then, but the footage sure came in handy. Thanks for watching & I hope you enjoy the rest of the series! (Even the ones that don’t have music references!)
thank you for (probably) changing my life stranger
that makes me so happy to hear. thanks for participating with me!
Its awesome the way you express the idea of participating in life. Some things can be scary or maybe you are not sure if you are going to like it, but just the willingness to try to participate in something opens you up to a lot more things and enjoyment from life. Being someone who has gone to hundreds of metal shows and rock concerts it's hard to look back at what it was like before participating in a mosh pit or just being allowed and aggressive concert. But after the first time you get in there it gets a lot easier and you realize how much fun it actually is, and you have some experiences where maybe it's a little more rough than you would expect and maybe you come out with a bruise or two but you survived, you did the thing, and for the most part you had fun. I'm glad that you could get so much from this book about participating in life and it's cool that the participation you took part in was just being in a mosh pit, it doesn't always have to be some grand life-altering experience sometimes it's as simple as just move in your body to some music, or playing human pinball with other sweaty people. Great video!
thanks for watching and your thoughts! I’ve been told there are much more aggressive mosh pits than the one I was part of, so jury’s still out on whether I’ll attempt another. But metaphorically, I’m all about the mosh pit now :) Yeah it doesn’t have to be a giant experience! Maybe even trying a new restaurant instead of the same thing every time. Thanks for watching!
A huge mosh pit and book enjoyer, this is so true
i really really really, REALLY like this video. excited to watch the rest now
hey thanks! :) I really really appreciate it!
I am not a musician, but I LOVE to play music. When I was a teenager, I heard Jimi Hendrix and wanted to play that music. So I bought a white Strat, just like Hendrix, and taught myself how to play. When I was in my 40's, I happened to hear "Take Five" while waiting at a counter in a store. I JUST had to play that!! So I taught myself how to play drums, to be like Joe Morello. Then started applying my guitar stuff in the Jazz realm, learned some theory and began to see the beauty of the whole enterprise. But, then, I started to hear things in Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie that had previously made me a little ill (!!) and all of the sudden, I just had to play some Bird stuff on a horn. So picked up a cheap clarinet for 6 months, got my embouchure together then got a cheap Alto which I have been playing ow for about a year. The point? Loving a "thing" from the sidelines only goes so far. You have to DO that thing in order to truly love it. Because only then do you actually begin to understand it, be overwhelmed by it, want to quit, but keep pushing ahead because the beauty and appeal is now REAL to you. It can't be denied. This only scratches the surface. The depth of the love goes only as far as the depth of the thing which is loved. My children. My wife. Christ Jesus. Only in DOING the thing, experiencing the thing, does love become real. Thanks for this series, great work here.
you sure sound like a musician to me! I see where Paul gets it from :) yeah doing things is the way to go if you really wanna “get it”. thanks so much for sharing!
what if you love so many things from the sidelines that you dont know which thing to start with! I have so many "things" I would love to do, but I dont want to close my options and dedicate myself to one craft. I know i will probably like it, but I want to be sure of what I wanna go after and chase it with my all. Its a question ive been battling for a while, but a fun one and im enjoying the journey of discovery. But your statement "loving a thing from the sidelines only goes so far" really stuck out since thats what ive been doing for a while. I dont want to immerse myself in what im not sure of when I have so many other passions and ideas, but I know I cant research every possible venue out there. I would love an answer to this dilemna and possibly if you relate to it, id love hear the story, thanks :).
I finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close last week, and it had a lot of beautiful themes and takeaways. The grandmas letters especially stuck with me, and reminded me to cherish the connections we have with other people, and how important they really are.
Also, for the last year or so ive been trying to read more instead of being on my phone so much, and the good points of this series serve as great motivation. Keep up the good work!
extremely loud and incredibly close sounds exactly like the concert I was at! :) but sounds like a great book. Glad you enjoyed it & are enjoying the videos! good luck getting off your phone, I’m trying too :)
One of the most impactful videos I've seen in a while. Hope you get as far as you deserve. Thanks mate, really!
hey thank you so much! I appreciate it!! thanks for the encouragement & for watching :)
TH-cam has been recommending me all your videos, and I think they're great! I'm a teen reader that loves making art based of different scenes and quotes from my favourite books so I can add to the conversation from people who love them too. :) Most recently, I did a painting inspired by The Handmaid's Tale and displayed it at an art show.
thanks so much for the encouragement! That’s so cool that you’re channeling it into more art. keep it going & thanks for watching!
The book "I called him necktie" made me appreciate the calmness in life just a little more.
as someone who likes calmness I might have to grab that book. thanks for watching!
@@timdemoss It is def a great read. Very heartfelt. It has a lot of chapters, as the chapters are sometimes as short as a page or less. Arguably not much happens, but it is so captivating and moving. I hope you check it out and enjoy it
So grateful to have found your channel. Reading Norwegian Wood at the moment and the way you put this video together is absolutely moving. Thank you
Thank you so much for letting me know :) enjoy your reading!
These videos feel like A+ submissions for a summer take home essay about why you should read
as a high school teacher, this is high praise - thank you!
Beautiful storytelling & perspective - I haven’t read a book in years but will see you in the next video anyways
thank you! we’ll see ya then :)
Silent Spring pushed me to try and spend more time outside and truly value the thing I’m learning about (environmental engineering) and Braiding Sweetgrass told me that I am not a net negative to that environment, I can give.
two books separately informing a single part of your life in different ways - that's terrific. :) thanks for watching!
Wow I’m loving this reasons to read series! Ive been getting back into reading after several years of not reading and it’s been great. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I’m so glad! Happy reading!
Excellent recommend by the algorithm, loved the vid!
I remember reading "At the existentialist cafe" by Sarah Bakewell in the midst of some of the worst that 2020 had to offer. And I don't know that it made me take a particular action so much as consider my mindset and all future actions. Reading and understanding how people endured and overcame the massive challenges of Europe in the 1930s-1940s and how some philosophers chose to embrace the absurdity of life and lean into breathing in every experience. Idk man, it just really pushed me to challenge how I was living through my own troubled times.
Very excited to enjoy more of your musings ✨
thanks for the well thought out response! haven’t read that book but like how you mentioned it might not inspire a specific action in the moment, but is fuel for your future actions. glad to have you around!
Stoicism and Nietzsche have inspired me to take charge over all the problems in my life -internally and externally- and to view these things not as indicative of life being worse for their presence, but rather opportunities for me to make something beautiful out of it. A quote from Carl Jung which continuously inspires me to use free time to read, write and study is - “no matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.”
And I’ve found it to be incredibly true. Treating my alone time as an opportunity to keep engaging with the world by sharpening my mind and having conversations with people far smarter than me through the book has done a lot for me in day to day life
that Jung quote reminds me of how it feels when strangers find any of my videos and comment on it… welcome, unknown friend! :)
I found the quote you cited in French, in the original text: "Le métier de témoin m’a toujours fait horreur. Que suis-je, si je ne participe pas ? J’ai besoin, pour être, de participer.". Literally, it means "The witness' occupation/role has always horrified me. What am I, if I don't participate? I need, in order to be, to participate." I love comparing translations so I thought you might be interested to know what the original quote sounds like in French! 😊
oh I do love that. What a terrific way to say it. Thank you so much!!
@@timdemoss Thank you for your videos! 🤗
I read Margaret Atwood's The Cat's Eye and had a strong emotional reaction. It made me think that maybe my childhood was a bit messed up and that I should try to unpack that.
Your moshpit story is so funny to me, because I had a similar moment a few weeks ago, when I was at a concert on my own and first stood back from the most pit, as I'd usually do if I was with a friend. But then I thought fuck it, nobody's watching, nobody cares what I do and pretty much just jumped in. Was a little terrifying, but funnily much less stressful than being outside / at the edge of it. So yeah. Participating. Trying to be more present and intentional with all things is generally a goal of mine. And this video reminded me of that, so thank you!
such a similar experience! :) ha thanks for sharing! so glad the video reminded you of your goals :)
I read a book called Breadsong. It’s a nonfiction about a girl who ‘s breakmaking pulls her out of a depression, so she opens a bakery with her dad.
I’ve since then started baking more and even made a bunch of mini loaves to give to friends.
oh making bread is such a fun and therapeutic activity! I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
I love you man, thanks for opening up a new door // perspective of my life at the perfect time of me reading more
so glad it could be helpful for you at this time in your life!
Hello Tim! I've serendipitously stumbled across this video of yours today. Hello from another participant :) This was a lovely video to come across, as this is a question that I've been pondering in the back of my mind for a while now. As to your question, I think the author who always makes me want to engage with life is Ursula K. Le Guin, without question. I am a philosophy student and writer, so her approach to writing engages me in two ways at once. I'm currently rereading one of her works, and my favourite book of all time, The Dispossessed.
There's a moment in which the narrator of the book, Shevek--a theoretical physicist in search of a general temporal theory--speaks to a crowd of angry workers. A particular passage strikes me each time. "We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. And the hand that you reach out is empty, as mine is. You have nothing. You possess nothing. You own nothing. You are free. All you have is what you are, and what you give."
So glad you stumbled across it! I feel like I need awhile to unpack that quote and would love to read it in context. Thanks for your thoughts and for participating!
I love your content! Very quick touching stories that bring both value and soul. Would definetely enjoy long form from you!
book: Piranesi from Susanna Clarke, gave me enough inspiration and wonder with the world to help me go through a tough design project.
thank you!! I try to condense them a little bit but maybe I’ll venture into longer stuff sometime. If you’ve got ideas let me know & I’ll be happy to experiment. Love the word wonder - I’ll check out Piranesi!
after completing shoe dog i was in awe. i got myself a pair of nikes and started doing marathons.
well that is a pretty rock solid result! thanks for watching!
I am deeply enjoying your videos and this series! the storytelling, visuals, and intentional choice to choose one idea to express all these elements are captivating from beginning to end. your videos are inspiring entertaining and educational in the philosophical self-reflective kind of way.
Thanks so much! I’m glad it’s coming across well :)
Thank you so much for this video, Tim! I adore the idea of reading as participation, and I've added Flight to Arras to my reading list :)
glad to hear it Ron! welcome to the channel :)
your channel is great. sharing my experience, reading infinite jest, specially because of the character of hal incandenza, made me start to smoke marihuana more frequently and to stop talking to people about my feelings. heh
I’ve only heard crazy things about this book, and this adds to the intrigue…hope you found some other books that encouraged you to open up more eventually! thanks for watching !
My kids and I read a picture book about a pet potato. So of course they needed their own pet potatoes. This just happened to be the day that Kate Messner (author of some awesome children's books) was visiting our library. So of course my 6yo had to bring her pet potato to meet her too.
what a fun and wholesome adventure! :) I vaguely remember doing a potato experiment in elementary school where we let the “eyes” grow towards holes in a box… hadn’t thought of that in years but this reminded me. random I know. thanks for sharing!
The Trouble with Poetry - Billy Collins inspired me to try writing a poem. After years and years of not "getting" poetry, I finally found some that I enjoyed in his collection of poems. And the trouble with poetry is that it makes you want to write more poetry 😂
that is the trouble with poetry isn’t it? I’ll make a video on this someday. thanks for watching!
I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and it made me desperately want to enjoy video games because of how the book presented it. It sounded like a blast so I tried playing some different video games alone and with my brother. I soon realized the video gaming world is not for me as I thought, but I’m happy the book inspired me to try!
worth a try! and that must be a good book to get you inspired to take action!
I was spurred to do more one on one activities with my children after reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." Especially hiking.
what a fun title for a book! glad to hear you’re having such great experiences with it :)
Book that spurred me to action was a nonfiction anthropological book called Land Of Open Graves by Jason de Leon. It’s about US border crossers and how the US border regime uses the hybrid collective of the Sonoran desert to kill and erase the bodies of crossers, creating a space of exception for them where their life is valued less and their death is of little consequence. It’s such a brutal book and it’s a rare example of how photos can really bring nonfiction humanities/social science writing to reality. He writes on academic issues but without any pretence or pomp, it’s so open and reflexive and glorious, but it’s really upsetting too. That book pushed me towards working on my masters thesis in new ways and led to me reconsidering my relationship to my work and to academia more broadly. Probably my favourite book I’ve ever read - you might like it :)
wow, sounds intense. thanks for the recommendation! :)
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig made me realize that I can be more than the notion/goals I have tied myself into. I could be more of me.
that's such an interesting phrase and encouragement. glad you enjoyed it!
great video man
thank you! I appreciate the encouragement
The book that inspired me to participate was "Around The World In Eighty Days" by Jules Verne - it's just so moving that someone would go on a journey like that for something silly like a bet and then find something unexpected, much greater at the end!
what a terrific book!
Read Just Kids by Patti Smith right before moving to New York City when I was 18. I walked around the city finding all the spots she mentions in her books and felt very romantic. :)
finding the specific spot mentioned is always fun! I remember standing at Canal & Bowery in New York and thinking “This is where the Lumineers were talking about”
DallerGut Dream Department Store is about a store deep in everyone's subconscious field of mind, wherever people go to bed and are in dream mode. That book motivates to sleep on time and to sleep enough.
any book that can motivate you to get decent sleep is doing terrific work!
Narcissus and Goldmund, by Herman Hesse, pretty much informed the hedonism of my 15 - 25 year old self. It shows how there can be dignity and learning in sensualism. Then, when I was recovering from the consequences of that, a lot less confident, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k showed me how to throw myself into adult life without perfect preconditions. I know the last one isn't literature, but it's not a bad book tbh.
interesting - hadn’t heard of that first one. & also I enjoy reading books that don’t fall in the “literature” category too :)
Lightning McQueen and The Headlight Stickers? Great band name.
we came up with it right before that first gig, I think as we were walking up to start XD thank you!
I read ‘’My mother’s castle’’ by Marcel Pagnol and it encouraged me to create more memories with mine since I’ve been a bit distant during puberty (I’m 18, so in the last part of it ☝🏻.
Also love your videos. After finishing each one, I just hop on a book hahah
oh amazing! that’s the goal!!
sick video, i was hooked immediately :)
wow thanks! getting better with practice so glad to hear you enjoyed!
the line "everything in life is writable" from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath spurred me to keep creating art and try bridge the gap between the mind and the material. i've learned to stop being a perfectionist and find joy in the mere attempt. i love getting book recs from you and my to-read list has grown so much after I subscribed! do you happen to have a goodreads account?
the gap between the mind and the mental - love how you phrased that. It’s a challenge for sure. And I do have a Goodreads but I use it just as a tracker - I don’t rate or review or share anything there :)
"The Five Rings" a book about the teachings of a Japanese sword master inspired me to try shaving with a razor blade
hope it went well! :)
I'm trying to employ the lessons from Peace in Every Step by Hanh to live my daily life more mindfully and compassion.
those sound like great goals :) thanks for watching!
I read Alkibiades by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, a suberb Dutch author. It made me appreciate the power of rhetoric and understand the frailty of democracy.
sounds powerful. Thanks for watching!
I clicked, no real expectation...why I'm getting so emotional listen this 6:42 videos? Actually, Epictetus teach me how to stop participating into what is not my concerns. And its a lot, mentally.
Instructions unclear, i am now on a no return mission to mars after reading the Long mars
Godspeed, soldier. safe travels.
i love this ❤
:)
reading Harry Potter so I went to uk and had a. blast
that’s sure taking action!
you only die once so why not live it.
You should have mentioned earlier that you're a Mountain Goats guy so people know
The mountain goats are appreciated by all who enjoy good writing :)
@@pfutch1 The confounding variable: divorce
Also, just having fun here
all i want to say is thank you, kind stranger 🤍 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson got me to pursue my passion for writing through journalism, and I am now enrolled in university as a journalism major haha
hey good luck in university! keep reading & writing!