🦊 Pencil's Purpose, Bird with Burnout, and Rob Burbea
Hey folks,
I’ve been swamped the past month with moving. I’m finally starting to get my routine back in the new place, and despite the chaos, I’m trying to look at it as a phase of renewal. Just as we move physically, I’m shifting my approach digitally with respect to how I publish online.
In the last edition, Reviving the Open Web, I mentioned I want to focus more on blogging again. Since then, I’ve been publishing more pieces directly to my website salman.io, as well as upgrading its look-n-feel. It feels good to curate and contribute to my site—it’s my digital home, and I’m proud of it. I want to keep devoting more and more energy toward it, rather than to the platforms.
Onward!
A Pencil’s Purpose
I just finished reading a beautiful book called The Mysterion by Kabir Helminski. It’s a wonderful introduction to the Sufi lens on spirituality, and how to find connection with our inner selves and those around us in an increasingly disconnected world. What I liked most about Kabir’s writing is that he offers a practical mindset to the nature of Self, and how to manage our inner world.
Beyond the book, I also wrote about a little pencil I carried with me, and why it became so important to my journey:
The pencil wants to be written with. The book wants to be read. I had done justice to them. I helped them fulfill their purpose. This is no small feat.
To be useful, to be helpful, to be a good partner—these are things we all desperately desire. And the other members of this universe are no different. (Look around you, now, and you’ll see all the things that are waiting for you…)
You can read the full post on my blog.
Fables come home to salman.io/fables
I’ve created a new home for fables on my website, so you can now enjoy the fables I publish online with beautiful typography and a clean reading experience.
I’ve put up two fables for you to enjoy so far:
Pay the Piper — Two stories, one about a little piper whose skills were abused until she burned out, and the other about a piper with a better environment, and what that can do for them.
The Fool is Free — A fable about the power of being bold enough to play, to fail, to try, and the rewards that come with that path. Here’s what one reader, Omar, had to say about this tale:
I skimmed this once, it was amazing. Then I read it again carefully, it was even better! Chills up my sign. Then I re-read it a third time, even more slowly, and I tripped over this line. I couldn't move past it: “saved of shame but damned with regret.”
Wow. This succinctly captures a concept I've been struggling to articulate for the past ~year. Trying to convince myself why it's OK to try, why failing/embarrassment isn't a signal that I should stop trying/that I'm on the right direction.
Rob Burbea
Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about Rob Burbea’s work on meditative practices. I decided to check out some of his lectures and books, and have found them incredibly insightful and helpful. Life has been a bit heavy for me lately, and his ideas and voice feel like they’ve come to me at the perfect time.
The best resource I’ve found is this essay by Tasshin: Rob Burbea: Ordinary Guy, Werewolf, Eternal Wanderer. He helpfully included a list of suggested talks to begin exploring Burbea’s seemingly endless body of work, along with a map of how he sees Rob’s ideas. If you’re new to his work, I suggest you start there.
I’ve published a new note with learnings from the resources I’ve explored so far, including from podcasts I’ve listened to. Check it out here: