Worthwhile: Deep Okayness + Diversity + Synchronicity

Worth Reading

Sasha Chapin on ‘Deep Okayness’:

Deep Okayness is not the feeling that I am awesome all the time. Instead, it is the total banishment of self-loathing. It is the deactivation of the part of my mind that used to attack itself. It’s the closure of the self as an attack surface. It’s the intuitive understanding that I am merely one of the apertures through which the universe expresses itself, so why would I hate that? It’s the sense that, while I might fuck up, my basic worth is beyond question—I have no essential damage, I am not polluted, I am fine.

I have never felt better. And it’s only now that I’m aware of how much time I wasted despising myself, even when I was most functional. It was a lot of time.

A potentially life-changing essay. Has kept me thinking all week.

David A. Graham, writing for The Atlantic on how places get (re)named:

The new names are the work of the Board on Geographic Names, a little-known federal body with the remarkable power to literally remake the map. Founded in 1890, it is an Ocean’s 11 of civil servants: subject-matter experts from across the government—including the Pentagon and the Postal Service, the Commerce Department and the CIA—who have come together not to conduct a heist but to approve official names of lakes, mountains, and valleys on government documents.

“I think it is quite esoteric,” Representative Al Green of Texas told me over the summer. “It is known to few, has much power, and exercises that with a lot of deliberation.”

Some of the original names are just shocking. And these still exist!

Ryan Muldoon on freedom through diversity:

Because my freedom is caught up in a system of cooperation with others, who help to augment my capacities, my freedom is enhanced when there are more abilities around.  There are two margins to consider. First, we can simply add more people.  We have ample evidence at this point that expanding the size of the market does great things.  But equally important, my freedom is enhanced when yours is too.  On this account, freedom is inclusive in a way the negative conception of freedom is not.  We are partners in our freedom.  I can’t be made more free on the back of someone else’s oppression.  My freedom is enhanced by drawing more people into a system of cooperation with me and helping to ensure that their capacities are able to be augmented as well.

Worth Watching

Veritasium takes a look at synchronicity and spontaneous orders in nature. I thought I knew the backstory of the wobbly Millennium Bridge. I didn’t.

Worth Trying

Lately I’ve been hooked on GoMacro bars. Most are low-FODMAP (a necessity for the next few months), they taste great, and compared to something like Clif bars they’re less like candy. I expect these to be a constant travel companion.