An incredible piece Zac; you've truly managed to capture, strain out and form a cohesive narrative of all these thoughts I've been having! Damn man is this is a gem among your works, a true banger of a piece.
What was the journey like to write this piece? How'd you come to this particular question?
The way I wrote this essay was backwards from how I normally approach it. What I normally do is: read widely, collect information and ideas, and then synthesize them with my own narrative twist. For this essay, I decided that I wanted to intuit my way to a conclusion. So I intentionally avoided all research on the subject, and simply pulled from observations in my own life, and conversations with other people. Only then—after the piece was 90% finished—did I begin to check my work against history. To my surprise, I had articulated some ideas—and even sentences—that seemed to be borderline plagiarism. As it turns out, this is a very ancient idea.
What originally tipped me off to the problem in the first place?
Well I was actually thinking about the Sagrada Familia, and how Antoni Gaudi spent most of life working it. He viewed it as his supreme purpose in life. The crazy thing is, 100 years after his death, it still isn't finished.
This prompted two questions: First, what motivates a man to work his entire life on a single thing, that he will never see come to fruition? Second, why aren't we working on these multi-generational projects anymore? I suspected the answers were intertwined. I believe it's this shift away from Virtue and towards the finite.
I have a lot more to say about this, and will certainly be writing about it in the future.
This reminds me of a Packy McCormick piece unpacking everyone's favorite instagram bio "not all those who wander are lost" in that it's by no means a call to wander aimlessly, but rather one to wander with intention - in this case in pursuit of a Virtue.
This idea of a North Star, a guiding principle in one's life really resonates with me as it can be a powerful grounding force such that regardless of what's going on in your life you can always return to this deep, underlying Virtue you know to be true
I’ve been waiting for a time I’d be fully receptive to read this and I’m so glad I did, what a piece. I feel in a peculiar middle ground of discovering a brand new concept, paired with having something I’ve known for a long time but haven’t been able to express yet. Thanks for revealing this in such a beautiful way.
An incredible piece Zac; you've truly managed to capture, strain out and form a cohesive narrative of all these thoughts I've been having! Damn man is this is a gem among your works, a true banger of a piece.
What was the journey like to write this piece? How'd you come to this particular question?
I appreciate you reading, and your kind words.
The way I wrote this essay was backwards from how I normally approach it. What I normally do is: read widely, collect information and ideas, and then synthesize them with my own narrative twist. For this essay, I decided that I wanted to intuit my way to a conclusion. So I intentionally avoided all research on the subject, and simply pulled from observations in my own life, and conversations with other people. Only then—after the piece was 90% finished—did I begin to check my work against history. To my surprise, I had articulated some ideas—and even sentences—that seemed to be borderline plagiarism. As it turns out, this is a very ancient idea.
What originally tipped me off to the problem in the first place?
Well I was actually thinking about the Sagrada Familia, and how Antoni Gaudi spent most of life working it. He viewed it as his supreme purpose in life. The crazy thing is, 100 years after his death, it still isn't finished.
This prompted two questions: First, what motivates a man to work his entire life on a single thing, that he will never see come to fruition? Second, why aren't we working on these multi-generational projects anymore? I suspected the answers were intertwined. I believe it's this shift away from Virtue and towards the finite.
I have a lot more to say about this, and will certainly be writing about it in the future.
Oh, good questions, I'm especially looking forward to your thoughts on multi-generational projects piece!
This reminds me of a Packy McCormick piece unpacking everyone's favorite instagram bio "not all those who wander are lost" in that it's by no means a call to wander aimlessly, but rather one to wander with intention - in this case in pursuit of a Virtue.
This idea of a North Star, a guiding principle in one's life really resonates with me as it can be a powerful grounding force such that regardless of what's going on in your life you can always return to this deep, underlying Virtue you know to be true
Jack! Thanks so much for reading. I'll definitely have to check out that piece by Packy
It was a short anecdote he used as part of a bigger piece on Wander but here it is!
https://www.notboring.co/p/wander-owning-happy-places
I’ve been waiting for a time I’d be fully receptive to read this and I’m so glad I did, what a piece. I feel in a peculiar middle ground of discovering a brand new concept, paired with having something I’ve known for a long time but haven’t been able to express yet. Thanks for revealing this in such a beautiful way.
Mark, I love that. Thank you so much for reading. I'll definitely be writing more about this topic in the coming weeks.
I appreciate you!