The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads by Maria Popova

An Occasion for Unselfing: Iris Murdoch on Imperfection and How to Be More Unselfish
An Occasion for Unselfing: Iris Murdoch on Imperfection and How to Be More Unselfish

“The self, the place where we live, is a place of illusion. Goodness is connected with the attempt to see the unself… to pierce the veil of selfish consciousness and join the world as it really is.”

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The Difficult Balance of Intimacy and Independence: Beloved Philosopher and Poet Kahlil Gibran on the Secret to a Loving and Lasting Relationship
The Difficult Balance of Intimacy and Independence: Beloved Philosopher and Poet Kahlil Gibran on the Secret to a Loving and Lasting Relationship

“Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

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Grace Against Gravity and the Physics of Vulnerability: How Birds Fly and Why They Flock in a V Formation
Grace Against Gravity and the Physics of Vulnerability: How Birds Fly and Why They Flock in a V Formation

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The Bird That Is Your Life
The Bird That Is Your Life

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Marianne Moore on the Three Elements of Persuasive Writing
Marianne Moore on the Three Elements of Persuasive Writing

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The Black Robin and the Power of Tenacious Tenderness: How a Single Mother Brought an Entire Species Back from the Brink of Extinction
The Black Robin and the Power of Tenacious Tenderness: How a Single Mother Brought an Entire Species Back from the Brink of Extinction

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The Force and the Flower: Poet and Potter M.C. Richards on Creativity
The Force and the Flower: Poet and Potter M.C. Richards on Creativity

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Octavia Butler on Religion and the Spirituality of Symbiosis
Octavia Butler on Religion and the Spirituality of Symbiosis

“On many levels, we wind up being strengthened by what we join, or what joins us, as well as by what we combat.”

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Wilderness, Solitude, and Creativity: Artist and Philosopher Rockwell Kent’s Century-Old Meditations on Art and Life During Seven Months on a Small Alaskan Island
Wilderness, Solitude, and Creativity: Artist and Philosopher Rockwell Kent’s Century-Old Meditations on Art and Life During Seven Months on a Small Alaskan Island

“These are the times in life — when nothing happens — but in quietness the soul expands.”

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The Invention of Empathy: Rilke, Rodin, and the Art of “Inseeing”
The Invention of Empathy: Rilke, Rodin, and the Art of “Inseeing”

How a doctor, a philosopher, a poet, and a sculptor co-created the modern concept of empathy.

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