Answering the Question: “What Is Enlightenment?” Kant answers the question quite succinctly in the first sentence of the essay: “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.” He argues that the immaturity is self-inflicted not from a lack of understanding, but from…  You can read. Which is to say, you can glance at a piece of paper (or a glowing screen) and immediately, effortlessly take in the thoughts of someone else. The greatest philosophers, poets, scientists, novelists, artists, and world leaders in history have left the contents of their thoughts just lying around in a form that you can access instantly. We take it for granted, but … Continue reading

Who you think I am…

I don’t know who you think I am. But I am that woman you would barely look at on the street. I am the one curled up on the park bench at midnight, shivering. I am the one with the dirty fingernails and the shoes ripping at the soles. I am the shadow that you find in a dark alley. I am the creak of wood outside of your window, the monster that haunts you as you sleep. I write because there is no other way. There is nothing else that is left of me. I write because it is … Continue reading Who you think I am…

A private infinite…

I host an infinite universe of subjective meaning within my being. In the midsts this universe, centered around my consciousness, is a galaxy of introspection. Every solar system is an aspect of my “self”. The functions of my perceived roles and responsibilities orbiting around an essential incarnation of “me”. At the core of this star system is my favorite planet. It is the point of origin for my perspective. This is the world where I choose to spend most of my time. In this world, I am unquestionably brilliant, lovely, brave, just, kind, generous, loving, and fulfilled. I am also … Continue reading A private infinite…

Hide away…

There’s the kind of love you hide away. The kind you keep to yourself, sealed in jars, tucked into shoeboxes, buried in the back of drawers and pressed between the pages of books. The kind that doesn’t see the light of day because it can’t, because it mustn’t, because if it did it would be the end of you both, it would be the end of everything, the end of the world. So you keep it to yourself and for yourself, because it has to be that way, because it is just that kind of love, the kind of love … Continue reading Hide away…

Intense feelings….

I’m drawn to those who carry weight. The ones for whom chronological age divided by life experience does not compute. Those who have seen too much and who feel too deeply. The ones who wear their insides on the outside like a dark, heavy cloak, heart and soul exposed. Who share a bed with their demons, and wake up crying in the night. The broken and the scarred; the vulnerable and fragile. The ones who care too much, who love too freely, and who trust indiscriminately. These are the people I fall in love with. These people who, when I … Continue reading Intense feelings….