The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads by Maria Popova

The Symphony of Belonging: Alfred Kazin on Music as Spiritual Homecoming
The Symphony of Belonging: Alfred Kazin on Music as Spiritual Homecoming

On the emotional machinery that suspends us between rapture and tears.

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A Responsibility to Wonder: Pioneering Neuroscientist Charles Scott Sherrington on the Spirituality of Nature
A Responsibility to Wonder: Pioneering Neuroscientist Charles Scott Sherrington on the Spirituality of Nature

“We have, because human, an inalienable prerogative of responsibility which we cannot devolve…not… even upon the stars. We can share it only with each other.”

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The Most Important Thing to Remember About Your Mother
The Most Important Thing to Remember About Your Mother

“It is not easy to give closeness and freedom, safety plus danger.”

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The Neurophysiology of Enchantment: How Music Casts Its Spell on Us
The Neurophysiology of Enchantment: How Music Casts Its Spell on Us

“Music so readily transports us from the present to the past, or from what is actual to what is possible.”

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Seneca on Creativity: Lessons from the Bees
Seneca on Creativity: Lessons from the Bees

How to ferment our natural gifts into nectar for the world.

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How to Be Less Harsh with Yourself (and Others): Ram Dass on the Spiritual Lessons of Trees
How to Be Less Harsh with Yourself (and Others): Ram Dass on the Spiritual Lessons of Trees

A simple perspective shift that reorients the roots of being.

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Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower: Rilke’s Timeless Spell for Living Through Difficult Times
Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower: Rilke’s Timeless Spell for Living Through Difficult Times

“What is it like, such intensity of pain?”

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Maya Angelou on Writing and Our Responsibility to Our Creative Gifts
Maya Angelou on Writing and Our Responsibility to Our Creative Gifts

“I believe talent is like electricity. We don’t understand electricity. We use it.”

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How Our Story Ends: Richard Powers on Rewriting Earth’s Future History
How Our Story Ends: Richard Powers on Rewriting Earth’s Future History

Reawakening to the rapture and responsibility of “a changing world that by every calculation ought never to have been.”

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The Tragic Miracle of Consciousness: John Steinbeck on the True Meaning and Purpose of Hope
The Tragic Miracle of Consciousness: John Steinbeck on the True Meaning and Purpose of Hope

“Hope is a diagnostic human trait, and this simple cortex symptom seems to be a prime factor in our inspection of our universe.”

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