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The Examined Life Newsletter Archive

By Ellen Vrana

The Social Isolation of Hunger

May 21, 2022

As a community, how do we not simply protect and care for the indigent man, how do we understand him? Read More.

The Absolute Annihilation of Hunger

May 6, 2022

Hunger reduces a soul to a body and a body to an immobile necessity-seeking thing. Read More.

A Rebellion of Joy

April 22, 2022

A willful, compassionate, self-forgiving and self-forgetting expansion of self.Read more.

What is Your Inner Landscape?

March 18, 2022

A journey into the anonymity and freedom of our inner self. Read more.

The Most Resplendent Words

February 11, 2022

Words that buzz, hum, and vibe with our need to express. Read more.

Reparations for the Beaten Heart

January 28, 2022

Melodies of tangible encouragement for the beaten heart. Read more.

Some Shape of Beauty

October 29, 2021

What is the shape of beauty that lifts our chin to the spectral infinite? That aligns our fibers to true north? …  Read more.

Brotherly Love

October 15, 2021

If we were born for cooperation, how do we reunite? …  Read more.

The Flux of All Things

September 17, 2021

When everything is changing how do we sit still? …  Read more.

Paying Attention to Insects

July 23, 2021

Behold the insect! Its beauty and its horribleness. …  Read more.

An Increased Atomization of Things

July 9, 2021

What happens when we fall apart? Physically and otherwise? What if everything falls apart? …  Read more.

What is the Feeling of Home?

June 6, 2021

What is that feeling of home? Is it the same for you and me? Does it connect us?…  Read more.

Traipsing Along Like A Child

March 26, 2021

What is the mind of a child as it registers the world? Can we ever get back to it as adults?…  Read more.

The Unlikely Strength of Corners

February 12, 2021

Corners. That physical space into which we crouch and nestle and sometimes retreat from the world. What do they mean to us? …  Read more.

Hands Outstretched and Met

January 29, 2021

One of the most consequential things we can do as humans is see one another. Not merely in flesh and voice but as an embodied soul: I take your measure as a person…  Read more.

The Need to Empty Ourselves

December 4, 2020

If we exhale everything we are what do we become? How do we manage the emptiness?…  Read more.

A Sense of Wonder

October 26, 2020

Throw open your eyes and minds. What do you see and wonder about?… Read more.

The Word is Not Enough

October 9, 2020

I find myself lacking words. How do we express ourselves when the word is not enough? ... Read more.

Normalizing the Absurd

September 25, 2020

If you are feeling exhausted (of course you are) it is because you are being pummelled by the absurd… Read more.

The Truth of Marriage

September 11, 2020

It might seem strange that my first post after a long maternity leave is about marriage. An inward-facing topic during a time when we should be extroverted with observations…. Read more.

Love is the Answer

June 17, 2020

There is always hope in love. Return here when you have nowhere else. ..  Read more.

Autumnal Rivets

October 21, 2019

Late autumn is my favorite time. A shimmering moment between change. Like a rivet fastening the compounding layers of life. ...Read more.

Decaying Matters

August 8, 2019

The falling apart. The breaking down. The return to elements. Out of the realm of recognition to simply matter. And then, to not matter at all. … Read more.

Illustration

The Last Words

July 24, 2019

On death, Sigmund Freud was certain, there is nothing to know. It is the greatest uncertainty of all, our unknowable real mortality. …Read more.

Where Do We Look to See Ourselves?

July 10, 2019

Where do we look to know ourselves? What reflections do we see? …Read more.

Places We Feel Safe

June 26, 2019

I’ve been exploring places that make us feel safe. By ‘place’ I mean anywhere we exist. Could be a daydream, memory, in the arms of a lover, or in one’s own kitchen. … Read more.

Things That Affect Us

May 29, 2019

So much wants to affect us lately that we are in serious danger of being unaffected. ..Read more.

Dealing With Our Expanded Consciousness

April 24, 2019

Human consciousness has expanded recently. What does that mean for us? ... Read more.

Make Something Special By Caring

March 27, 2019

We make things special through caring. Things ordinary and unexceptional become extraordinary. ..Read more.

Holding Both Joy and Sorrow

March 6, 2019

The complexity of human emotion allows us to hold joy and sorrow and move forward in balance. Read more.

A Singular Focus on the Eternal

February 20, 2019

Existence is a richly-threaded quilt into which we stitch our being and from which we take comfort and inspiration. ...Read more.

Illustration

Wisdom from the Elders and the Ancients

February 6, 2019

When we question the future we look to the past. Contained there are answers, direction, wisdom, and assurances. …Read more.

Thriving at the Intersection of Cold and Warmth

January 23, 2019

January’s end. We inch towards warmth and light yet some of us are content to be chilled and shadowed. …Read more.

Examined Life

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