The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads by Maria Popova

The Afterlives of the Soul: Sister Nivedita on Love and Death
The Afterlives of the Soul: Sister Nivedita on Love and Death

“To the soul, time does not exist. Only her own great purpose exists, shining clear and steady through the mists before her.”

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The Art of Lying Fallow: Psychoanalyst Masud Khan on the Existential Salve for the Age of Cultish Productivity and Compulsive Distraction
The Art of Lying Fallow: Psychoanalyst Masud Khan on the Existential Salve for the Age of Cultish Productivity and Compulsive Distraction

On inviting the state of being that “allows for that larval inner experience which distinguishes true psychic creativity from obsessional productiveness.”

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Jealousy and Its Antidote: Pioneering Psychiatrist Leslie Farber on the Tangled Psychology of Our Most Destructive Emotion
Jealousy and Its Antidote: Pioneering Psychiatrist Leslie Farber on the Tangled Psychology of Our Most Destructive Emotion

“Every jealous person knows jealousy to be a brutally degrading experience and resists with all his might revealing the extent of his degradation.”

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From Youth to Age: Kahlil Gibran on the Art of Becoming Yourself
From Youth to Age: Kahlil Gibran on the Art of Becoming Yourself

A roadmap to the fulfilled belonging on the other side of “the great aloneness which knows not what is far and what is near, nor what is small nor great.”

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Coleridge on the Paradox of Friendship and Romantic Love
Coleridge on the Paradox of Friendship and Romantic Love

On sympathy, reciprocity, and satisfying the fulness of our nature.

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Magnolias and the Meaning of Life: Science, Poetry, Existentialism
Magnolias and the Meaning of Life: Science, Poetry, Existentialism

On cruelty, kindness, and the song of life.

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How to Love the World More: George Saunders on the Courage of Uncertainty
How to Love the World More: George Saunders on the Courage of Uncertainty

“In a world full of people who seem to know everything, passionately, based on little (often slanted) information, where certainty is often mistaken for power, what a relief it is to be in the company of someone confident enough to stay unsure (that is, perpetually curious).”

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The Broadest Portal to Joy
The Broadest Portal to Joy

“Despite every single lie to the contrary, despite every single action born of that lie — we are in the midst of rhizomatic care that extends in every direction, spatially, temporally, spiritually.”

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The Remedy for Creative Block and Existential Stuckness
The Remedy for Creative Block and Existential Stuckness

“Faithfulness to the moment and to the present circumstance entails continuous surrender… Only unconditional surrender leads to real emptiness, and from that place of emptiness I can be prolific and free.”

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May Sarton on Grieving a Pet
May Sarton on Grieving a Pet

“It is absolutely inward and private, the relation between oneself and an animal.”

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