Seek out what magnifies your spirit.

October 23, 2023 2:10 PM

On each anniversay of the Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings), Maria Popova writes about the most important lesson she's learned that year. Today, on the 17th anniversary, we have one new lesson and the sixteen previous lessons. Learn how to question your universe from a poem about pi. Learn how to outgrow yourself. And don't forget to embrace joy.
posted by tofu_crouton (3 comments total)

Reading the first 8 items, I was thinking, “huh, one of these lists that is actually on point/contains actual wisdoms and not just platitudes”. But it started to go downhill with the part of item 9 that heavily implied that cat gifs don’t lift people up.
posted by eviemath at 3:51 PM on October 23, 2023

I like that none of the previous lessons are allowed to be subsequently removed. Everytime I land on that site I end up at a different destination - today it was a summary/review of Viktor Frankl's Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything. Which seems extra fitting given < waves hands > everything
posted by zenon at 4:09 PM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

Earnestly written and spiritually uplifting, they certainly catch my eye. How could they not? I mull them over, looking for various flavors of credibility until my emotions begin to gag. At this time, I slam the page shut and (to myself) shout Bullshit! although, in the rapidly waning afterglow, I can't help but wish they were all true.

I could not read the poem about Pi without seeing the tiger at the end of the raft.
posted by mule98J at 11:20 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]