Incoherence

Procrastination

Feeling tangled up, restless, achy, and hopeless? Procrastinating about something? Creativity is not the result; it is the process that will get you moving.

This morning, Etty Hillesum’s journals were full of touching, insightful and gloomy lines. Of the best: I shall merely try to help God as best I can, and if I succeed in doing that, then I shall be of use to others […]

Joy and Woe

A coarse woodcut of a tree at night with a bright, full moon in the background.

In “Auguries of Innocence” (written in 1803), William Blake wrote about joy and woe as clothing for the divine soul:

It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe
[…]

Here goes, then…

The first words of Etty Hillesum’s major published work… As I read, I want to believe you’re sitting close by me, content within this thick stack of pages. Perhaps you are, but I’m not sure yet if I’ll find you here. Then, straight away, just as I’m settling in…