Rangers vs Padres

Listening now to the Padres Radio Network for pregame coverage to be followed by the call of my afternoon's MLB Spring Training Game of choice featuring the San Diego Padres vs my Texas Rangers. Go Rangers!

And the adventure continues.

There is something remarkable about the way faith is described in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, because it refuses to behave the way modern people expect spiritual language to behave. Most people assume faith is primarily about believing certain statements are true, yet the writer of Hebrews speaks about it more like an invisible structure that quietly supports the entire life of a believer. Faith becomes the hidden architecture behind every courageous decision, every act of obedience, and every moment where a human being steps forward into uncertainty while trusting that God already stands in the future waiting. Hebrews 11 opens with a line that has echoed across centuries because it speaks to something deep inside the human spirit: faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. That description alone shifts the entire conversation, because it suggests faith is not a fragile emotion or a vague optimism but something substantial, something solid enough to stand on even when the road ahead disappears into fog. In other words, faith becomes the bridge that allows a person to move from the visible present into the unseen future where God is already at work. When the writer of Hebrews begins unfolding example after example from the lives of those who came before, the point is not simply to admire ancient figures but to reveal a pattern that still unfolds in every generation of believers who dare to walk with God.

When you begin to move through Hebrews 11 slowly, you realize the chapter is less like a list of heroes and more like a window into the hidden mechanics of spiritual life. Each person mentioned in the chapter encountered a moment where the visible world offered one conclusion while the voice of God invited them toward another. Abel offered his sacrifice not because he had proof that it would matter but because something within him recognized the quiet authority of God’s presence. Enoch walked with God in such deep alignment that his life itself became a testimony that intimacy with the divine was possible even in a broken world. Noah began constructing an ark in a season where the skies looked perfectly calm, trusting a warning from God about a storm no one had yet seen. Each story reveals a different expression of faith, yet they all share the same underlying rhythm: God speaks, the future shifts, and a human being must decide whether they will move according to what they can see or according to what they trust God is building beyond their sight.

That tension between what can be seen and what must be trusted is where most people struggle, because human nature tends to prefer guarantees before movement. We like to see the full map before we take the first step, and we prefer certainty before commitment. Yet the stories in Hebrews 11 reveal something profoundly different about the way God often leads His people. God rarely provides the entire blueprint at the beginning. Instead, He reveals enough to invite obedience, enough to require trust, and enough to transform the person who is willing to walk forward. When Abraham is called to leave his homeland, the instruction does not come with a full explanation of where he is going or how everything will unfold. Abraham is simply invited to go, and the act of going becomes the beginning of a journey that will reshape history itself. Faith, in this sense, is not simply believing that God exists but trusting that His direction is worthy of your next step even when the destination remains hidden.

This idea challenges modern assumptions because many people think faith is meant to eliminate uncertainty, yet the pattern throughout Hebrews 11 suggests something much deeper is happening. Faith does not remove uncertainty from life; it transforms how a person walks through it. The individuals named in the chapter did not receive comfortable circumstances or predictable outcomes. They received a relationship with God strong enough to carry them through unpredictable circumstances. Abraham lived in tents while waiting for a city built by God. Sarah trusted a promise of life in a season where biology itself seemed to argue against hope. Moses chose to align himself with God’s people even though it meant walking away from the comfort and prestige of Egypt’s royal court. Each decision required stepping into a future that could not yet be measured by human logic. Yet over time the pattern becomes unmistakable: whenever someone trusts God deeply enough to obey, something extraordinary begins unfolding beyond the limits of human planning.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Hebrews 11 is the way it describes people who never fully saw the completion of what they believed. The chapter repeatedly reminds readers that many of these individuals died while still holding onto promises that had not yet materialized in their lifetime. At first glance this might seem discouraging, yet the writer presents it as something profoundly honorable. These individuals understood that faith was never about controlling the timeline of God’s promises but about aligning with the story God was writing across generations. They saw themselves as travelers moving toward a greater homeland, citizens of a kingdom that stretched beyond the boundaries of their immediate experience. Because of this perspective, they were able to live with a kind of steady courage that did not depend on instant results. Their lives became evidence that faith is not measured by how quickly God fulfills something but by how faithfully a person continues walking with Him even when fulfillment unfolds slowly.

There is also something deeply encouraging about the diversity of the people mentioned in Hebrews 11. The chapter does not present a collection of flawless individuals whose lives were untouched by weakness or failure. Instead, it presents a group of people who were deeply human, often imperfect, sometimes uncertain, yet willing to trust God in moments that required courage. Rahab appears in the chapter despite coming from a background many would have dismissed as disqualifying. Gideon is remembered even though his story includes moments of hesitation and doubt. Samson’s life contained profound flaws, yet he still becomes part of the larger testimony of faith. The message here is subtle but powerful: God does not require perfect people in order to accomplish extraordinary purposes. What He seeks are individuals willing to trust Him enough to step forward when the moment arrives.

Another layer of Hebrews 11 becomes visible when you consider how the chapter reframes the meaning of success in the spiritual life. Modern culture often measures success through visible outcomes such as influence, recognition, or material achievement. Yet Hebrews 11 measures success by something entirely different: alignment with God’s will even when the visible outcome remains uncertain. Some individuals in the chapter experienced dramatic victories, seeing kingdoms conquered and miracles unfold before their eyes. Others endured suffering, imprisonment, and hardship without witnessing the immediate triumph of their faith. Yet the chapter places both groups side by side without diminishing either one. This reveals a profound truth about the life of faith: obedience itself is the victory, regardless of whether the world recognizes it in the moment.

When you read the latter portion of Hebrews 11, the tone becomes almost poetic as the writer describes people who endured incredible trials while remaining anchored in trust. Some were mocked, some were imprisoned, some faced persecution that stretched the limits of human endurance. Yet the chapter does not portray them as defeated individuals. Instead, it presents them as witnesses whose lives testify that faith can remain alive even in the darkest circumstances. The writer uses language that suggests the world itself was not worthy of them, implying that their loyalty to God revealed a deeper reality than anything the surrounding culture could offer. This perspective transforms suffering from something meaningless into something that can carry spiritual significance when it is endured with faith and integrity.

There is a reason Hebrews 11 continues to resonate with believers across centuries, and it is not simply because it recounts historical stories from ancient times. The chapter speaks to a universal human experience: the tension between what we can currently see and what we believe God may be doing beyond our sight. Every generation faces moments where obedience requires courage and where trust must extend beyond immediate understanding. When someone chooses to act with integrity in a world that rewards shortcuts, that is an act of faith. When someone forgives despite deep wounds, believing that God can bring healing where bitterness would only deepen the pain, that is an act of faith. When someone continues serving others even when recognition never arrives, trusting that God sees every quiet sacrifice, that too becomes part of the same legacy described in Hebrews 11.

Faith, then, becomes something far more dynamic than many people imagine. It is not merely an internal belief system but a living force that shapes the way a person walks through the world. Faith alters decisions, reshapes priorities, and changes how someone interprets both success and failure. It creates the courage to begin building something before there is visible proof that the effort will succeed. It produces the patience to keep walking through seasons where progress appears slow or invisible. And perhaps most importantly, it allows a person to recognize that their life is part of a much larger story unfolding across generations.

When the writer of Hebrews reflects on the lives of those who came before, the tone carries a quiet reverence because these individuals understood something essential about their place in God’s unfolding plan. They recognized that the visible world is only part of reality and that God’s purposes often develop in ways human eyes cannot immediately perceive. Because of this understanding, they were able to live with a kind of freedom that did not depend on controlling every outcome. They trusted that God’s promises were trustworthy even when the timeline stretched beyond their expectations. In doing so, they left behind a testimony that continues inspiring believers centuries later.

The deeper you reflect on Hebrews 11, the more you begin to realize that the chapter is not only about people who lived long ago. It is also about the kind of life that remains possible today for anyone willing to trust God with similar courage. Faith still invites people to step beyond the comfort of certainty and into the adventure of obedience. It still calls individuals to build, to serve, to forgive, and to hope even when circumstances appear uncertain. And just like the lives recorded in Hebrews 11, the quiet acts of faith taking place today may become part of a legacy that future generations look back upon with gratitude.

As Hebrews 11 continues to unfold in the mind of the reader, the chapter begins to reveal something even more profound than a list of faithful lives. It slowly becomes clear that what we are witnessing is not merely a gallery of spiritual accomplishments but the gradual unveiling of a spiritual pattern that transcends time. The individuals described throughout the chapter did not know they were becoming part of a sacred narrative that would inspire generations thousands of years later. They were simply responding to the voice of God as it intersected their ordinary lives. In the moment, their choices likely felt personal, uncertain, and even risky. Yet from the vantage point of history, their faith appears almost architectural, like beams quietly supporting a structure far larger than any one life could fully comprehend. Hebrews 11 therefore invites us to reconsider how we understand our own decisions of faith today, because what may appear small in the moment can become part of a much larger spiritual legacy over time.

One of the most powerful realizations that emerges from the chapter is that God often works through people who cannot yet see the full scale of what their obedience will produce. Abraham did not know that his journey of trust would eventually shape entire nations and become central to the story of redemption. Moses could not have imagined that his willingness to confront Pharaoh would echo across millennia as a symbol of divine deliverance. Rahab likely never dreamed that her courageous act of protection would place her name within the lineage that eventually leads to Christ. Each of these lives demonstrates that faith often begins with a step that seems modest when viewed from the inside. Yet when God breathes purpose into that step, it can ripple outward through time in ways no human mind could calculate.

This is where Hebrews 11 begins to speak directly into the heart of anyone who has ever wondered whether their faithfulness in daily life truly matters. Many people imagine that spiritual significance belongs only to those who perform dramatic acts that are publicly recognized. Yet the rhythm of Hebrews 11 suggests something different. Faithfulness is not defined by how visible an action becomes but by how deeply it aligns with the direction God has placed within the heart. The quiet decision to trust God when circumstances look uncertain carries a spiritual weight that cannot be measured by immediate results. Over time, those quiet decisions accumulate into something powerful, shaping both the life of the individual and the world around them in ways that often become visible only much later.

There is also a beautiful paradox woven throughout Hebrews 11 that reveals the mystery of how God works through human history. The chapter repeatedly shows people who were moving toward promises they did not fully see fulfilled during their lifetime. They walked forward believing that God’s word was reliable even when the final outcome remained beyond their personal horizon. In a culture that often demands immediate results, this kind of faith can feel almost radical. Yet the writer of Hebrews presents it as the very essence of spiritual maturity. Faith is not merely the ability to believe when the outcome is already visible. It is the courage to remain steady when the outcome remains hidden, trusting that God’s purposes unfold across a timeline larger than any individual life.

When we begin to look at the broader sweep of Scripture through this lens, an incredible pattern starts to appear. God often plants seeds of promise in one generation that will only reach their full expression in another. Abraham receives the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars, yet he experiences only the earliest glimpse of what that promise will become. David establishes a kingdom that points toward something greater, a kingdom that will ultimately find its fulfillment in Christ centuries later. The prophets speak of redemption that will unfold long after their own voices fall silent. Hebrews 11 reminds us that these lives were not defined by how quickly they saw fulfillment but by how faithfully they aligned themselves with God’s unfolding story.

For modern believers, this realization can completely transform the way we view our place in the world. Instead of feeling pressured to produce immediate visible outcomes, we begin to understand that our role may simply be to plant seeds of obedience that God will nurture over time. Faithfulness in parenting, integrity in work, kindness toward others, courage in moments of moral decision, and devotion to God in private prayer may seem ordinary on the surface. Yet when those actions are rooted in trust, they become part of a larger spiritual ecosystem where God continues shaping history through human lives. What appears ordinary in the moment may become extraordinary in the long arc of God’s work.

Another remarkable dimension of Hebrews 11 lies in its emphasis on movement. Faith is rarely portrayed as a static state of belief but as something that propels people forward. Abraham goes. Moses leaves. Noah builds. Rahab protects. Each story contains action, risk, and motion. This reminds us that faith is not meant to exist merely as an internal conviction. It is meant to move through a person’s life in ways that influence decisions, relationships, and the direction of the future. Faith becomes the catalyst that turns spiritual insight into lived reality.

There is also something deeply reassuring about the fact that many of the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 were far from perfect. Their lives contained complexity, mistakes, and moments of weakness. Yet the chapter does not dwell on those failures. Instead, it focuses on the moments when they trusted God enough to move forward. This perspective offers a powerful encouragement to anyone who has ever felt unqualified to walk closely with God because of past mistakes. Hebrews 11 quietly reminds us that faith does not require a flawless record. It requires a willing heart that continues to turn toward God even after stumbling.

The closing verses of the chapter introduce an idea that is both mysterious and deeply hopeful. The writer explains that all these individuals, though commended for their faith, did not receive the fullness of what had been promised because God had something better in store that would ultimately include those who came later. This statement reveals that the story of faith is not a collection of isolated lives but a single unfolding narrative that stretches across generations. Every believer who walks with God becomes part of that same living story. The faith of those who came before strengthens those who follow, and the faith of those living today will quietly influence those who come after.

This generational dimension of faith may be one of the most powerful insights Hebrews 11 offers. When someone chooses to trust God, they are not only shaping their own life but also contributing to a spiritual inheritance that will extend beyond them. A parent who models humility, forgiveness, and trust in God plants seeds that will grow within the hearts of their children. A teacher who encourages faith and integrity influences students who will carry those values into the future. A leader who acts with courage and compassion creates ripples that extend far beyond the immediate moment. In this way, faith becomes a living legacy that quietly multiplies across time.

Perhaps the most beautiful realization that emerges from Hebrews 11 is that faith ultimately points beyond itself to the character of God. The reason these individuals were able to trust so deeply was because they had encountered a God who had proven Himself trustworthy. Faith is not blind optimism; it is confidence rooted in the nature of the One who speaks. The stories in Hebrews 11 remind us that God’s promises have always been larger than human expectations, unfolding in ways that often surpass what anyone initially imagined. When people choose to trust Him, they step into a relationship with a God who is capable of bringing life from barrenness, deliverance from oppression, and redemption from even the darkest circumstances.

In our own time, the invitation of Hebrews 11 remains just as alive as it was for the first readers of the letter. The world still presents moments where people must choose between what appears immediately safe and what aligns with God’s deeper direction. Faith continues to call individuals to walk paths that require courage, patience, and trust. The difference is that today we look back and see the long history of those who have already walked this road before us. Their lives form a kind of spiritual cloud of witnesses, reminding us that the journey of faith has always been filled with both challenges and extraordinary moments of grace.

When you pause and reflect on the entire chapter, you begin to see that Hebrews 11 is not simply describing the past. It is extending an invitation. It invites each reader to imagine what their life might look like if they trusted God with the same quiet courage displayed by those who came before. It invites believers to live with the awareness that every decision of faith becomes part of a story much larger than the present moment. And it invites us to remember that even when we cannot see the full outcome of our obedience, God is already weaving those choices into the future He is preparing.

Faith, then, becomes more than belief. It becomes participation in the unfolding work of God in the world. Every act of trust, every step of obedience, and every moment where a person chooses hope instead of despair becomes another thread in the tapestry God is weaving through history. Hebrews 11 reminds us that the visible world is only part of reality and that God continues working in ways human eyes cannot always see. Yet those who trust Him become participants in that unseen work, building something eternal through lives of faith.

In the end, the message of Hebrews 11 is both humbling and empowering. It humbles us because it reveals that we are part of a story that began long before us and will continue long after we are gone. Yet it also empowers us because it shows that our faith today truly matters within that story. The quiet choices to trust God, to love others, to pursue righteousness, and to walk faithfully through uncertainty all become part of the same legacy described in Hebrews 11. Just like those who came before, we may not fully see the final outcome of our obedience. But we can trust that the God who guided their lives continues guiding ours, building something beautiful across generations through the steady courage of faith.

Your friend, Douglas Vandergraph

Watch Douglas Vandergraph’s inspiring faith-based videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@douglasvandergraph

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Vandergraph Po Box 271154 Fort Collins, Colorado 80527

The litigation between the Kwantlen Student Association and Yakshit Shetty (LinkedIn) was reported on in the Runner on February 14 2026.

The following are the public court documents which can be accessed by anybody in Canada.

Notice of Civil Claim

Response To Civil Claim

Reply

We will be releasing the court documents of the two other (254775, 250796) cases reported in the same story. Stay tuned!

#002304 – 19 de Setembro de 2025

O meu cubo 5x5x5 caiu no chão e desmanchou-se. É uma metáfora para algumas partes da minha vida. Assim, meio desmontado, nem sequer se põe a questão de ser ou não possível resolvê-lo. Antes de sequer o tentar, há-que lhe devolver estrutura, algo que não sei se consigo aprender.

Dead gods tell no tales, only the True and Living God's name will endure forever. No marketing required.

Now this is what Jehovah says, your Creator, O Jacob, the One who formed you, O Israel:

Do not be afraid, for I have repurchased you. I have called you by your name. You belong to me.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not flood over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame singe you.

For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.

For you became precious in my eyes. You were honored, and I have loved you. So I will give people in place of you and nations in exchange for your life.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you together from the west. I will say to the north, “Give them up!” and to the south, “Do not hold them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name and whom I created for my own glory, whom I have formed and made.”

Bring out a people who are blind, though they have eyes, and who are deaf, though they have ears.

Let all the nations assemble in one place, and let the peoples be gathered together. Who among them can tell this? Or can they cause us to hear the former things? Let them present their witnesses to prove themselves right, or let them hear and say, “It is the truth.”

“You are my witnesses,” declares Jehovah, “yes, my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and have faith in me and understand that I am the same One. Before me no God was formed, and after me there has been none.

I—I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior.

I am the One who declared and saved and made known when there was no foreign god among you. So you are my witnesses,” declares Jehovah, “and I am God. Also, I am always the same One, and no one can snatch anything out of my hand. When I act, who can prevent it?”

This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel:

For your sakes I will send to Babylon and bring down all the bars of the gates, and the Chaldeans, in their ships, will cry out in distress.

I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.

This is what Jehovah says, the One making a way through the sea and a path through turbulent waters, the One who draws out the war chariot and the horse, the army together with the mighty warriors:

They will lie down and not get up. They will be extinguished, snuffed out like a burning wick.

Do not remember the former things, and do not dwell on the past.

Look! I am doing something new. Even now it is springing up. Do you not recognize it?

I will make a way through the wilderness and rivers through the desert. The wild beast of the field will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I provide water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, for my people, my chosen one, to drink, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

But you have not called on me, O Jacob, because you grew weary of me, O Israel.

You have not brought me sheep for your whole burnt offerings or glorified me with your sacrifices. I have not compelled you to bring me a gift, nor have I made you weary by demanding frankincense.

You did not buy me sweet cane with your money, and with the fat of your sacrifices you did not satisfy me.

Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and made me weary with your errors.

I, I am the One who is blotting out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Remind me; let us bring our case against each other. Tell your side of it to prove you are in the right.

Your first forefather sinned, and your own spokesmen have rebelled against me.

So I will profane the princes of the holy place, and I will give Jacob over to destruction and subject Israel to insulting words.

Now listen, O Jacob my servant, and you, O Israel, whom I have chosen.

This is what Jehovah says, your Maker and the One who formed you, who has helped you from the womb:

Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

For I will pour out water on the thirsty one and flowing streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.

They will spring up among the green grass like poplars by the streams of water.

One will say, “I belong to Jehovah.” Another will call himself by the name of Jacob. Yet another will write on his hand, “Belonging to Jehovah.” And he will adopt the name of Israel.

This is what Jehovah says, the King of Israel and his Repurchaser, Jehovah of armies:

I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but me.

Who is there like me? Let him call out and tell it and prove it to me. From the time I established the people of long ago, let them tell both the things to come and what will yet happen.

Do not be in dread, and do not become paralyzed with fear. Have I not told each of you beforehand and declared it?

You are my witnesses. Is there any God but me? No, there is no other Rock. I know of none.

All who form carved images amount to nothing, and their cherished objects will be of no benefit. As their witnesses, they see nothing and know nothing, so those who made them will be put to shame.

Who would form a god or cast a metal image that can bring no benefit?

Look! All his associates will be put to shame. The craftsmen are mere humans. Let them all assemble and take their stand. They will be terrified and be put to shame together.

The metalsmith works the iron over the coals with his tool. He forms it with hammers, working it with his powerful arm. Then he grows hungry and his strength fails. He drinks no water and grows tired.

The wood-carver stretches the measuring line, tracing out the pattern with red chalk. He works it with a wood scraper and traces it with a compass. He patterns it after a man, with the beauty of a man, to sit in a house.

There is one whose work is to cut down cedars. He selects a certain type of tree, an oak, and he lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel tree, and the rain makes it grow.

Then it becomes fuel for a man to make fires. He takes part of it to warm himself. He builds a fire and bakes bread. But he also makes a god and worships it. He makes it into a carved image and bows down before it.

Half of it he burns up in a fire. With that half he roasts the meat that he eats and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm as I watch the fire.”

But the rest of it he makes into a god, into his carved image. He bows down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

They know nothing, they understand nothing, because their eyes are sealed shut and they cannot see, and their heart has no insight.

No one reflects in his heart or has understanding, saying: “Half of it I burned up in a fire, and on its coals I baked bread and roasted meat to eat. Should I then make the rest of it into a detestable thing? Should I worship a block of wood from a tree?”

He feeds on ashes. His own deluded heart has led him astray. He cannot save himself, nor does he say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Remember these things, O Jacob, and you, O Israel, for you are my servant. I formed you, and you are my servant. O Israel, I will not forget you.

I will blot out your transgressions as with a cloud and your sins as with a thick cloud.

Return to me, for I will repurchase you.

Shout joyfully, you heavens, for Jehovah has acted! Shout in triumph, you depths of the earth! Shout for joy, you mountains, you forest and all your trees!

For Jehovah has repurchased Jacob, and on Israel he displays his splendor.

This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, who formed you since you were in the womb:

I am Jehovah, who made everything. I stretched out the heavens by myself, and I spread out the earth. Who was with me?

I frustrate the signs of the empty talkers and make diviners act like fools, confounding the wise men and turning their knowledge into foolishness.

I make the word of my servant come true and completely fulfill the predictions of my messengers.

I say of Jerusalem, “She will be inhabited,” and of the cities of Judah, “They will be rebuilt, and I will restore her ruins.”

I say to the deep waters, “Be evaporated, and I will dry up all your rivers.”

I say of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd, and he will completely carry out all my will.”

I say of Jerusalem, “She will be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”

OK, maybe not phonetically. But for a museum dedicated to open access, a decentralised, non-algorithmic social media platform seems an obvious place to make ourselves available and claim a space for the national Danish art collection.

A mastodon (well, some sort of mammoth) figurine visiting SMK

Last week, on an early spring Friday, we took our first baby steps into the Fediverse, the collection of platforms connected by the ActivityPub protocol. We did this by setting up an account on the cosy Danish expressional.social server populated by friendly-seeming natives (with an endearing love of image alt texts).

Now, that previous paragraph contains the words ‘protocol’ and ‘server’ and admittedly the Fediverse does require some acclimatisation: it’s just a slightly more abstract concept than your average centralised service. But such is the price of openness and flexibility. When you can “do” the Fediverse almost any way you please, choose your own server and choose your own app, things immediately become a bit complicated.

Slightly technical as it may be, it’s also very promising. The early adopters stand ready to help, all the features (and more) that you may want from a Twitter/X-like platform are available and the non-algorithmic focus imparts a feeling of control. On Mastodon you may be slightly confused, but you’re also very much in charge.

Of course, what you’re not getting is content going viral to a massive audience. Mastodon is thinly populated at this time. So we’re decidedly not there for the reach but because we see clear affinities with our openness ambitions, because the platform’s open architecture may allow for really interesting re-use/automatisation and because there might be a time where the current social media behemoths lose steam. In which case our mastodon riding skills may well come in handy.

We’re starting small. But we see great potential – not least for joining forces across museums and other fine cultural institutions. French cultural institutions are getting together at ReseauCulture.fr – and perhaps Danish/Nordic ones should look very closely at that model. Hit us up if you’d like to talk! 🤗

🏠 SMK on Mastodon (we speak Danish)

Our first Mastodon post

Je n’ai jamais connu la guerre. Je suis issu d’une génération privilégiée. Né au bon moment. Né au bon endroit.

Mes parents l’ont connue.

Mon père, né en 1939, ne pouvait pas savoir, au moment de fêter son cinquième anniversaire, ce que c’était que la paix.

Ma mère, née en 1944, a bien failli ne pas être ma mère. Ses frères et sœurs, dans leur précipitation, l’ont une nuit oubliée en courant se réfugier dans la cave. Les bombes ne sont pas tombées loin, une armoire a basculé sur son berceau. Ils étaient solides les berceaux, en ce temps là.

Comme tant d’autres de sa génération, mon père est allé en Algérie. On ne lui a pas demandé son avis… Il en est revenu, lui.

Je suis né quelques années après.

Mes grand parents ont connu deux guerres. Mes arrières grands parents ont connu deux guerres. Je pourrais continuer longtemps comme ça, si je le voulais.

Je l’ai dit : génération privilégiée.

Et pourtant…

Même si je n’ai pas connu la guerre, même si je ne l’ai pas vécue dans ma chair, ce que j’en sait me suffit largement.

Mais la guerre n’est pas un choix.

On fait la guerre- par défaut – parce qu’il est trop tard – parce que les autres options sont épuisées – parce que les décisions qu’il aurait fallu prendre à temps n’ont pas été prises – parce qu’à un moment le courage à manqué.

Parce que les puissants ont manqué de courage. Parce qu’ils n’ont pas su écouter. Parce qu’ils croyaient savoir. Parce qu’ils étaient bien trop arrogants pour reconnaître qu’ils s’étaient trompés.

Alors ils en envoient d’autres se faire tuer.

C’est compliqué la paix.

Ça demande du courage, de l’écoute, du respect.

Alors que c’est si simple la guerre.

Il y a les gentils, il y a les mauvais.

Et puis, il y a tant d’argent à gagner…

^{Chapter Index ARFGAM contains mature themes and at times is #NSFW}

After leaving Michelle, Stelmaria and Chad were having a conversation about whether she should make herself known to his family. Surprisingly, Chad's position was the logical one. Unsurprisingly, Stelmaria would convince him to agree to her position. This conversation was long, repetitive, and boring. Luckily, more interesting things were happing on ethereal side of reality.

***

Sebastian whistled at his workbench and chipped away at the piece of petrified wood. Making petrified wood chips was the one simple alchemical task he had never assigned to an assistant. He found it relaxing. His boss Trinity had a long standing complaint that it was 'a simple task way below his pay grade'. Since Sebastian knew all she would ever do about it is tell him in performance reviews that his refusal to allocate this task was 'beyond unacceptable and incredibly petty,' so he cheerfully ignored her complaints.

Sebastian had been working as an alchemist at the Ethereal Alliance Tranquility Council's Office of Courageous, Kind, & Laudable Interdisciplinary Civilian Knights that Virtuously and Ardently Guarantee the Terrific Omnipresent Civilized Utopia is Maintained for decades. Growing up Sebastian had been sure of two things. The first was that he wanted to be an alchemist. The second was that his family was too poor to afford the admission fees for an alchemical school. As a result he pursued an Alliance program that would cover his education in exchange for ten years of government service following its completion. When he first learned he had been assigned to the Knights, he assumed the ten years of service would be miserable. By year five he had come to realize that he loved being a knight.

Three years after this realization that he met his spouse, Taylor. They were an heir to a sizable family fortune dating back to pre-Alliance times. When they proposed to him it made the decision on if he should leave the Knights for a higher paying job when his required service was complete, an easy one.

Now at the age of sixty-seven, he found himself as both the Chief of Alchemy and Assistant Director, Field Force Support. The latter of which he had become because fifteen years prior when the AD2FS who had been his primary mentor retired, Sebastian informed Giovanni, the Knight Director, he did not want to report to “whoever he thinks can do the job justice”. Giovanni, agreed that Sebastian could report directly to him. Sebastian loved this arrangement because the Knight Director has l zero time to spend managing the Chief of Alchemy.

Eight years later Giovanni retired. The current Knight Director, Trinity, succeeded him. Unfortunately for Sebastian, Trinity happened to be the AD2FS that he had refused to report to. The first thing Trinity said to Sebastian after being named Knight Director was “I have an amazing opportunity for you.”

Sebastian hated the administrative bullshit that went with being AD2FS, but cared about the Knight's mission enough to do a good chunk of it. He did all the stuff he thought was actually necessary for the success of the mission. He skipped all the dumb bureaucratic stuff like attending departmental budget reviews or Trinity's weekly leadership meetings.

Sebastian had been making petrified wood chips for the last six hours. It was one of his days off. He was stressed. If the mission had gone remotely well, Des would have been back yesterday. At thirty and three Despoina was the youngest Field Knight in the twelve millennia of the Knight's existence to be named Regnar-Leas, the highest field rank. In Sebastian's opinion, she was on her way to being the greatest Knight the Alliance would ever see. Still, he disagreed with her and Trinity's decision to send her on this mission solo. The delay in her return was all the proof he needed that he was right.

Chipping the petrified wood was the only thing keeping him from imagining how he was going to explain to Taylor that a Massena Escapee brutally murdered their little sister and was most likely harvesting souls in Tempo to try and grow in power because she had been raised in a cult dedicated to reestablishing the ancient Seelie Court and murdering all fiends as well as any älva and kodoma subtypes traditional folklore tends to associates with the Unseelie. It was not a conversation he wanted to have with his spouse.

The chunk he was working on had been as big as his head at the start of the day, it was now smaller than his thumb. He did not have any more, and he knew it. His hearts were an anxious tick-thunk, tick-thunk, like a pair of drums in his chest. When the steady beat was interrupted by the screech of his office door swinging open, he was so surprised he nearly fell off his stool.

The hand that smacked a pile of silver coins down on his desk was covered in dry blood and mud, but there was purple paint on its long pointy finger-nails. Sebastian felt every one of his muscles relax. There was one more tick-thunk and then he only heard his sister-in laws heavy breathing. He spun on his stool and jumped into her arms.

“What you are not going to gloat?” Des managed to say, she sounded exhausted.

Gloat? Sebastian was not sure what she could possibly be talking about. “I have been chipping petrified wood for hours Des. I thought I was going to be telling Tee about your brutal execution by a lunatic. I would have made Trinity tell your parents though.”

“Well now I am a bit disappointed. I guess surviving means that I lost my bet to you and that Trinity gets to avoid a conversation she would have hated.”

“What did the boss say when you gave her your report?”

“Errrrr, I do not know. I have not seen her yet. I just got back.”

“Despoina, why in the Arcanum did you not send a report ahead? This was critical-CRITICAL shit. I told you time and again the samples I looked at suggested that Stelmaria may be the strongest hyōsei to exist in this age. Trinity has probably been preparing a report for the Tranquility Council since yesterday morning assuming...” Sebastian chuckled and leaned onto his young sister in-law. “Fuck Des, even I would not dare to fuck with the boss that much. Does it make me a bad AD that I am proud? Rhetorical question, I do not care if I am a bad AD that would be Trinity's fault for being petty and promoting me.”

Sebastian looked up at Despoina's face for the first time. There was not a hint of amusement in her face which was strange because fucking with Trinity was pretty much the only thing that made his sister in-law smile. “You are being earily quiet Des, keep it up and I will call you 'Little Si...Ouch”

“I may be about to collapse you shithead but I am not deaf. Nobody calls me that but the one sibling I still talk to. That includes that one sibling's husband who I regrettably have to interact with as part of my job. I am juiced. Alchemical. Blood. Right. Now. Before. I. Decide. To. Drink. Yours.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes at that. “Des I know, you know that gnome magic cannot be harvested even by a pterafri sucking our blood. I also know you do not even eat fish because you do not want to be like your parents. Why do you need Alchemical? You will have enough time to spend sleeping with a bloodstone before Trinity assigns you something knew. The side effects can be pretty bad if it is not made right you know?”

“Seb, I did not get her. She escaped...with a human.”

“Are you fucking with me?”

Despoina covered her face with her hands and shook her head. “He shot me, in the eye, with an iron tipped wooden arrow.”

“GAHAHAHAAHAAAHAAAAA,” Sebastian fell to the floor laughing. He knew it was wrong but a puny human besting his sister in-law with a human made weapon was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. “Sorry, sorry, sorry I know this is serious this is just...what are the odds? Arcane shit. It had to be pure iron Des its the only way right? Fuck that is impossible and then the shaft was wood? Fuck, do you know most human weapons have not been made out of pure iron in centuries?” Sebastian, took a deep breath. “Sorry, I am sorry this is serious.”

He got up and grabbed a key ring out of his pocket and unlocked a small silver chest sitting on his work bench. “I made some yesterday afternoon when you had not returned. Just in case. There are exactly three fairies in the known realm that could make a better substitute for the real thing. I am not saying there will not be side effects but I am saying I feel pretty confident none of them will be permanent.” He held up a large glass phial about half the size of a bottle of wine. It was filled with a thick maroon cream.

Despoina snatched the phial out of his hand, popped open the lid and sniffed it. “How many times have you made Alchemical Blood Sebastian?”

Sebastian watched sweat pool on Des' brow as she examined his work. “Yesterday was the first, second, third, and fourth times I have made Alchemical blood. I destroyed the first two due to lack of color uniformity, which some studies have linked to more extreme crashes. The third I feared was rather low in potency based on arcane readings so I destroyed that one after I made this one, which is the fourth. As I said there might be a handful of fairies that could do better.”

Sebastian crossed his arms and smirked as he added, “It costs a small fortune to make a single phial, the entire annual alchemical supply budget the council gives me would have been wiped out by what it cost me to make these four. I bought the ingredients with your family's money. I told Taylor you had a mission that was dangerous enough I wanted to have some special ingredients outside of the Council's budget just in case you came back with something that would otherwise be very painful to treat.”

Des grimaced, “did they buy that?”

“Nope. They said to tell you that craving blood is a part of who you are and does not make you your mother.”

“I am going to gut that fucking fur ball for making me do this,” Despoina vowed. Then she tilted her head back, lifted the phial to her lips, and slammed it back in three giant gulps. It was sickly sweet. “Not as disgusting as your mint flavored memory salve, but a close second.”

She turned and walked out the door. Magically mending and cleaning her soiled clothes with a wave of her hand on her way out.

***

Meanwhile back in the temporal side of reality Stelmaria had eventually gotten Chad to agree with her by offering him a boob job. He was now passed out on his bed snoring loudly. Stelmaria said a quick chant to make sure her cute bean would stay asleep while she was out hunting. Then jumped out his bedroom window, shifted into her beast form, and trotted off towards town.

AUTHOR's NOTE: The reader is likely to notice that as we explored the Ethereal Alliance's civilization that the there are abbreviations, acronyms, and slang was common. Some of these readers may be thinking something akin to 'So I am just supposed to accept that this fantasy world is based in the English language and Latin alphabet or that somehow their wordplay can translates seamlessly to ours in a way that sometimes creates puns in English by coincidence?' For these readers I would like to offer two different explanatory responses for them to choose from.

OPTION A: Of course not, the language and alphabetS in the world our story is set in in more fantastical and complex than most could comprehend (but not you because you are so brilliant and smart). There writing system was a combination of logographic, phonetic, syllabic, and enigmatic characters (some pictorial and some abstract). The cleanness of the abbreviations has only been added here to make reading easier for less intelligent readers. If this is breaking your immersion I apologize and if there is ever a super deluxe sprayed edged limited premium edition collector's copy, rest assured I pay to have it written in an original language that only people as smart as you can understand.

OPTION B – “Are you aware that most of the worlds languages use acronyms, abbreviations, and slang? That even some of the ancient languages used them? The ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans used both acronyms and abbreviations. I looked it up and there are examples of abbreviations in ancient Mayan written language as well (which I only selected as my example because my (high school level) understanding of ancient history is the Mayans were isolated from Eurasia and Africa until the sixteenth century). I am not an expert on classic literature (also high school level understanding) but I think there are thgere puns in Beowulf, the Illiad/Odyssey, and One Thousand and One Nights? One thing I know for sure is both testamets of the christian bible have wordplay. What was the point of this author's note? No you are not supposed to even think about that so you should not have to accept it. As stated in the forward this story is poorly written. I sincerely apologize if this is a pet peeve of yours and my decision to do this has mad you sad. Let me try to move your mood in a different direction. Despite spending winters alone in the middle of the ocean, Atlantic Puffins are monogamous and mate for life. They come back to the same nest with the same partner year after year. Its like an annual second chance romance or lost lovers or something. How fun!”

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9 March 2026

Face shield bag (working title): was walking in Vauxhall and found the outer packaging for a set of CPR mannequin shields. Made of transparent plastic, on which was printed a wonderfully-poorly-rendered line drawing diagram showing how to use the product—hands affixing a shield to a mannequin's lifeless face, another (living?) face entering the diagram's second stage to put its lips to the first one. All folded in on itself and resting delicately over sparse weeds sprouting from wet soil squeezed up against a concrete curb. Something about it brought to mind Polke's watchtower series (particularly Watchtower (Hochsitz) from 1984), both in mood—relaxed at a kind of equilibrium but sinister—and visual complexity—the bent plastic packaging caught daylight at odd angles, blocking visibility of the weeds, soil, and diagram here and there. What resulted is a painting that to me feels ancient, like a hieroglyph partially lost to material decay. Which sits in an odd harmony with the satisfaction on the face floating at the top of the composition. The color is indebted to Eliot Porter's Winter Wren, Great Spruce Head Island, Maine (1960), which holds an aspirational kind of long-ago-now-ness that I'm permanently searching for.

A whole day incident at work, my favorite. I did get praise from upper management though— yippee.

#books #nonfiction #economics

“There is no magic money tree” is the stern injunction invoked by politicians, central bankers and economists to explain to a fiscally imprudent public why it cannot have nice things. Fiscal rectitude is now the primary virtue of government, perhaps nowhere more so than in the United Kingdom where the Treasury has shackled itself to the need for approval from an ‘Office for Budget Responsibility’. Running deficits or printing money, we are told, is only one tiny step away from Weimar Republic levels of financial calamity.

But what if it wasn’t thus? That is the alluring promise of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), which first gained prominence in the wake of the Great Recession and argues that not only can governments print money to cover expenses, but they should do so to fully realise a nation’s productive capacity. It is a provocative and controversial theory that repudiates the need for permanent austerity in the name of balanced budgets, and finds one of its most ardent advocates in Stephanie Kelton, erstwhile chief economist to US senator Bernie Sanders. In her book The Deficit Myth, she takes her argument for a ‘people’s economy’ built on the insights of MMT to a wider audience.

The Deficit Myth faces the triple challenge of any non-fiction book that assails an existing orthodoxy. It must set out a compelling argument, be intelligible to a lay audience, and dispel hegemonic common sense. This is a daunting task, and the meagre evidence base, weaknesses in Kelton’s writing style, and a different perspective on political economy meant I was left unpersuaded by the book’s stronger claims. Nonetheless, it is a thought-provoking read that provides ample critique of economic orthodoxy, and left me receptive to exploring more rigorous defences of MMT in future.

MMT is based on the chartalist premise that any government operating a freely floating fiat currency can create money to fund its expenditure. Governments can do this because they are the monopoly issuer of their own currency, which means they can never ‘run out’ of it. This money then flows into the economy, from which it can be removed through taxation, to avoid an excess supply of money driving up inflation. I had come across this view before in David Graeber’s Debt: The first 5000 years, although Graeber did not explore the economic consequences as thoroughly as Kelton.

MMT pre-empts the obvious counterargument that governments creating money will simply lead to inflation by positing that the additional money will be absorbed by unutilised productive capacity in the economy instead. In essence, MMT argues that it is not the relationship between money and goods and services available to purchase that drives inflation, but the relationship of money to the productive capacity of an economy to produce goods and services. As long as increased government expenditure results in a commensurate increase in things available for purchase, by stimulating economic activity, inflation will be kept at bay. It is only when the economy is running at full capacity that increasing the money supply further will cause inflation.

This argument will sound familiar to readers acquainted with (post-)Keynesian theories advocating countercyclical spending to dampen the negative effects of the business cycle, and my impression is that different views on the nature of money notwithstanding, MMT advocates and Keynesian economists are at least fellow travelers. It is an intriguing and logically coherent hypothesis, but unfortunately The Deficit Myth does not offer much evidence to buttress the initial premise. Kelton references a number of other heterodox economists, but unless the reader is already predisposed to agree with the argument, the appeal to authority does not work if the reader is unfamiliar with the sources cited, yet still aware that they are not universally accepted.

This lack of evidence and a failure to address any of the obvious critiques or counterexamples to MMT leave the central argument in a precariously weak position after the first two chapters, and The Deficit Myth does little to shore it up in the remainder of the book. Instead, it applies the core premise to a range of policy issues, such as the national debt, trade imbalances and social security commitments. The Deficit Myth’s prescriptions follow logically from the core premise, which Kelton repeats somewhat overmuch, but they do not offer further proof for its truthfulness. If one does not accept MMT’s core tenets, the whole argument immediately falls apart.

Avoiding substantive engagement with critiques of MMT also leads Kelton into a dead end when explaining why her theory isn’t universally accepted. Discounting competing views on MMT’s validity, she resorts instead to ascribing the failure of policymakers and mainstream economists to accept MMT to either an almost delusional psychological investment in the myth that government finances work similarly to a household budget, or to bad faith ploys for continued austerity. I certainly don’t dispute that hegemonic dogma constrains how people think, but it is not persuasive as the only reason why so many economists, including from heterodox traditions, remain stubbornly unconvinced of MMT’s validity.

All this leaves Kelton’s account of MMT exposed to numerous lines of attack. There is no account of how MMT would explain or manage crises such as the 1970s stagflation or the hyperinflation seen in Weimar Germany or contemporary Zimbabwe or Iran. The chapter proposing a jobs guarantee, does not work through how a strengthened bargaining position for labour might cascade through the economy. The chapter on international trade explains the dangers of governments restricting their monetary sovereignty by linking their own currency to that of another country (usually the dollar), but does not address the risk of increases in the money supply or trade deficits causing currency devaluation, making imports more expensive. This chapter also suffers most from the US-centric perspective in The Deficit Myth, because while Kelton notes the exceptional position of the United States as the issuer of the world reserve currency, there is little exploration of the advantages this confers on the US, and the disadvantages it poses for everyone else. No other country can rely on a near-infinite demand for its own currency to maintain favourable exchange rates despite running structural trade deficits. The lack of consideration for higher-order effects certainly makes the book more readable, but on the flipside also makes it feel so too simplistic to remain persuasive.

The last couple of chapters are dedicated to policy problems that Kelton argues are far more important ‘deficits’, such as crumbling infrastructure, inequality, the atrocious healthcare provision in the United States, and imminent environmental collapse. It is these chapters where The Deficit Myth cannot cash the cheques it wrote for itself at the start of the book. Kelton reminds us that it is the productive capacity of the real economy, not the supply of money, that is the real constraint on what is achievable. Yet as we near the end of the book, we are no wiser on what this capacity is, how we would know what it is, and how it is constituted. It is plausible that MMT could solve any of the problems identified by Kelton individually, but it is doubtful it can solve them all at the same time. The Deficit Myth offers no evidence that simply increasing the money supply would enable us to pay for better healthcare and environmental restoration and a jobs guarantee and infrastructure repair and any of the other things Kelton cares about. Instead, Kelton has to concede that other policy measures, such as progressive taxation, environmental legislation, universal healthcare and industrial policy will also be required.

And so we find ourselves back at the political in political economy. The allure of MMT is its promise of a technical fix to a political problem, and Kelton repeatedly stresses that MMT is not ideology but monetary reality. But in the end, until we achieve fully automated luxury communism, we cannot escape political struggle over our societies’ limited productive forces. Kelton falls into the same trap as Rutger Bregman in Utopia for Realists by proposing an ostensibly objectively positive policy as a shortcut to avoid class conflict, but with class antagonism itself standing in the way of the policy being implemented. As Cory Doctorow reminds us, if something is good for workers, the bosses will hate it. The reason why we cannot have nice things is not because of a mismatch between the money supply and productive forces, but because it is not in the interest of the capitalist class to let us have them. Universal healthcare and a jobs guarantee may well benefit society in the abstract, but the bosses know that insecure, desperate workers are much easier to discipline and exploit.

Jane McAlevey said it best. There are no shortcuts. MMT may well be a useful tool in the hands of labour, but if so, it will still require a powerful working class to wield it.

In the end, I was not persuaded that MMT is the gamechanger that Kelton propounds it to be. But The Deficit Myth remains a valuable and critical intervention in public debate on how we run the economy, and a powerful argument for removing artificial constraints on our welfare and prosperity. The book could be read as a first step on one’s MMT journey, rather than the final word, and I expect more in-depth MMT works would address the critiques I’ve raised. As we discovered to our collective detriment following the Great Recession, there are dangers in having a monoculture of economic theory. It will however take more robust defences and sharper arguments if Kelton wants to see MMT emerge victorious.

Notes & Suggestions

• In her early chapters, Kelton introduces the concept of the ‘non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment’ (NAIRU) which is the putative reference point for central banks to manage inflation. It isn’t central to Kelton’s argument and so I didn’t manage to integrate it into the blog proper, but it was the part of the book that made me most furious. The NAIRU is a rate of ‘acceptable’ unemployment that unelected technocrats decide is necessary to avoid inflation. In other words, it is official government policy in all advanced economies to keep a certain percentage of the workforce out of work as a reserve army of labour. Yet the same politicians and technocrats who deliberately inflict suffering and misery on millions of workers for the benefit of ‘the economy’ will simultaneously blame the unemployed for their situation. If there is one other thing to take away from The Deficit Myth, it is that we should never again take serious any politician talking about ‘skivers vs strivers’ or ‘encouraging’ the unemployed back to work.
• Kelton’s book is a decent entry point, but there is a lot more on MMT out there, on both sides of the debate. Jacobin has featured an extensive critique and rebuttal, as well as an interview with Stephanie Kelton. In the UK, Richard Murphy is one of the more vocal MMT advocates.

Toilet Rol Stemmingsmeter van de Target Marketeer

Hallo Toilet Klant fijn dat u weer bent ingelogd voor deelname aan de persoonlijke stemmingsmeting in het mini eerste kamertje.

Dit door de enige echte toiletpapier influencer aangemaakte vul evenement kost u maar een paar minuten.

De maatschappij heeft mij geroepen zodat ik hier elke dag uw stemming mag meten. Zodat zij van de maatschap dankzij mij weten wat er op dit moment in u omgaat. Deze verse gegevens zetten zij later in voor het aanbieden van unieke massaal gefabriceerde producten voor in u geest of op locaties rondom het lijf. Dat wilt u toch ook!

Nu de test te vinden op vel twee, drie en vier, opeenvolgend, in drievoud hangend aan de rol.

Vraag 1.

Hoe voelt u zich op dit moment?

1. Enorm blij
2. Opgetogen
3. Gewoon
4. Niet jedat
5. In mineur

Veeg nu het juiste aantal keer over uwer edele billen en deponeer het antwoord in de pot.

Vraag 2.

Wat gaat u straks doen?

1. Genieten van de hele wereld
2. Allemaal nieuwe spullen aanschaffen
3. Wat ik altijd doe
4. Alleen de dingen die ik moet doen
5. Op bed liggen en heel lang stil liggen huilen

Veeg nu het juiste aantal keer over uwer edele billen en deponeer het antwoord in de pot.

Vraag 3.

Bent u tevreden over het vandaag reeds behaalde?

1. Uitermate tevreden alles ging beter dan goed
2. Niet ontevreden er is aardig wat gelukt.
3. Gewoon, zoals het hoort te gaan ging het
4. Niet echt tevreden, er ging meer fout dan goed
5. Diep ongelukkig, de paar dingen die ik deed zijn volkomen mislukt

Veeg nu het juiste aantal keer over uwer edele billen en deponeer het antwoord in de pot.

Spoel na afloop de aangeveegde test door naar de daarop wachtende instanties. Aan het einde van de dag kunt u online de dag aanbiedingen zien die horen bij de uitslag van de wc rol stemmings test van vandaag. Ik dank u wederom voor u inzet en tot straks.

Freundinnen & Freunde der Weisheit! All die Selbstoptimierungsgurus erklären Glück zur reinen Privatsache. Echtes Glück ist aber etwas anderes: nicht eine fortlaufende Selbstinszenierung, sondern Verantwortung und Sinn.

Unsere gegenwärtige Vorstellung von Glück ist oft erstaunlich schmal geraten. Was früher mit Tugend, Gemeinsinn und einer gerechten Gesellschaft verknüpft war, erscheint heute als Frage individueller Befindlichkeit: Wie kann ich mich besser fühlen, produktiver werden, meine Ziele effizienter erreichen? In einer Kultur, die Selbstoptimierung, Wohlfühlroutinen und persönliche Markenbildung zum Ideal erhoben hat, ist das Verständnis von Glück zur Privatsache geworden – reduziert auf Momente der Zufriedenheit und messbar in Datenpunkten. Was dabei verloren geht, ist die tiefere Dimension von Glück: jene, die sich aus Zugehörigkeit, Verantwortung und Sinn ergibt.

Ein erster Schritt zu einem tragfähigeren Glück liegt in der Abkehr vom rein individuellen Fokus. Wer sich als Teil eines grösseren Zusammenhangs begreift – sei es im Familienkreis, im Gemeinwesen oder in einer freiwilligen Aufgabe –, erlebt sein Leben nicht nur als fortlaufende Selbstinszenierung, sondern als bedeutungsvoll durch Verbindung. Gerade in einer Zeit, in der viele gesellschaftliche Strukturen unter Druck stehen, gewinnt das bewusste „Für-andere-da-sein“ an Wert – nicht als moralische Pflicht, sondern als Quelle innerer Stimmigkeit. Es sind oft die kleinen, unsichtbaren Beiträge, die Beziehungen tragen und persönliche Erfüllung ermöglichen.

Zweitens lohnt sich ein Perspektivenwechsel: Glück ist nicht primär eine Frage des Konsums oder der Wahlfreiheit, sondern eine Frage der Ausrichtung. Studien zeigen, dass Menschen ihr Leben dann als sinnvoll erleben, wenn sie ihre Handlungen mit grösseren Werten verbinden – etwa Fürsorge, Gerechtigkeit oder Verlässlichkeit. Es braucht kein perfektes Leben mit durchgeplantem Alltag. Viel entscheidender ist, ob wir unser Handeln als kohärent und relevant empfinden. Wer sein Engagement ausrichtet auf etwas, das über das eigene Wohlbefinden hinausgeht, erfährt oft eine tiefere Form von Zufriedenheit.

Drittens sollten wir die gängige Vorstellung hinterfragen, dass Glück mit ständiger positiver Stimmung gleichzusetzen sei. Ein erfülltes Leben schliesst Ambivalenz, Anstrengung und Unsicherheit mit ein. Gerade in Zeiten von sozialer oder ökologischer Krise zeigt sich, dass Glück nicht im Rückzug liegt, sondern im aktiven Mitgestalten einer Welt, die für viele lebenswert bleibt. Das grosse Glück entsteht dort, wo Menschen Verantwortung übernehmen, ohne sich aufzuspielen – wo sie verlässlich handeln, ohne immer perfekt sein zu müssen. Glück ist dann nicht das Ziel, sondern das Echo eines geglückten Daseins.

Denkanstoss zum Wochenbeginn

„Ich kann ihnen nicht sagen, wie man schnell reich wird. Ich kann ihnen aber sagen, wie man schnell arm wird: indem man nämlich versucht, schnell reich zu werden.“ – André Kostolany (1906–1999)

ProductivityPorn-Tipp der Woche: Schwierige Aufgaben zuerst (Eat the Frog)

Fange den Tag mit der schwierigsten oder unangenehmsten Aufgabe an. Danach fühlt sich alles andere leichter an und du vermeidest das ständige Aufschieben.

Aus dem Archiv: Warum nicht jeder Ratschlag zu dir passt

Wir hören es immer wieder: Erfolgreiche CEOs sagen, dass das Geheimnis ihres Erfolgs darin liegt, „Nein“ zu sagen. Influencer raten uns, dieses oder jenes Produkt zu kaufen, weil sie es angeblich selbst lieben. Doch was für sie funktioniert, muss nicht automatisch für dich passen. Pauschale Ratschläge ohne Berücksichtigung deines eigenen Kontextes können sogar gefährlich sein. Dieser Beitrag wirft einen kritischen Blick darauf, warum es so wichtig ist, Ratschläge zu hinterfragen – egal ob sie von einer erfolgreichen CEO oder einem beliebten Influencer kommen.

weiterlesen …

Vielen Dank, dass Du Dir die Zeit genommen hast, diesen Newsletter zu lesen. Ich hoffe, die Inhalte konnten Dich inspirieren und Dir wertvolle Impulse für Dein (digitales) Leben geben. Bleib neugierig und hinterfrage, was Dir begegnet!

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EpicMind – Weisheiten für das digitale Leben „EpicMind“ (kurz für „Epicurean Mindset“) ist mein Blog und Newsletter, der sich den Themen Lernen, Produktivität, Selbstmanagement und Technologie widmet – alles gewürzt mit einer Prise Philosophie.

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Disclaimer Teile dieses Texts wurden mit Deepl Write (Korrektorat und Lektorat) überarbeitet. Für die Recherche in den erwähnten Werken/Quellen und in meinen Notizen wurde NotebookLM von Google verwendet. Das Artikel-Bild wurde mit ChatGPT erstellt und anschliessend nachbearbeitet.

Topic #Newsletter

I hosted a lot of friends over today. They came over from 1 all the way till eight or 9 PM. This was the most amount of people I’ve hosted, like around like 12 or 13 at the peak. I’m glad I did it, but my social battery I think is drained. I think there’s also a certain amount of growing pain in finding your community of people and who you feel comfortable with.

I don’t think about her as much anymore. I almost have started to forget her face, but whenever I remember that, I think back to her and I have to stop myself. I also know that I have a lot of photos of her, and honestly I want to go back and look at them. But I don’t do it cause I know it’s smart not to. It’s strange because I don’t even know how much of her I miss, versus if I just miss the holes that she filled. But at the same time I think it’s a little bit of a mixture of both. I really do miss a lot of the connection in the suite moments that we shared, and a lot of the things that we were able to do together. But I think this is a dangerous thing, romanticizing things this soon. I still find that some of the places where it hurt me a lot are still sore. I try not to avoid things that remind me of her, but I don’t really want to see anything about VALORANT or VR chat. It’s weird to have tied myself so closely to someone who gave me so much doubt and anxiety. It’s weird the lack of self-respect/self-love that I had. I think I wanted a relationship so desperately, and I wanted it to work so badly that I kept telling myself that what happened was just a fluke over and over again. But at the same time that doesn’t make it any different, how nice and safe it felt to wake up to her. In the middle of the night waking up, and rolling over and pulling her arm over me, and getting to be hugged and cuddled to bed. Having someone that would lay on me. Feeling her hands pushing on my body in her shitty attempts at massages. It’s hard because she wasn’t a great partner a lot of different ways, but I think she did try. And at the end of the day someone can be good but not good enough. And I guess I just have a higher bar. I think she will have another partner that is maybe a little bit less mentally dominant that can coexist with her a little bit better, and things can be more her speed. And I think she’ll be happy and I think her partner will be very happy with her. She has a very kind heart. Just a bit naïve and with some growing to do. And I kind of feel like I grabbed her along and dragged her at my speed in life, and I think that’s not something she was ready for. We really are at different stages of life. In more ways than one. And I don’t miss having to almost regress myself in several different ways to match a little bit more. And I really like the stability that I have now. But I do mourn the future that I had planned and hoped for. I kept telling myself that people are just young right now, and if you give it a little bit of time people will mature more and grow. And I think that’s true, but at the same time I don’t know what I can even expect.

It’s a weird thing to me, I feel like in a lot of ways I consider myself exceptional, but at the same time I have problems with my self-worth. Sometimes I just wish that I was loved as a child and I wouldn’t have to worry about trying to figure out a concept that I never could believe. Like how could you fucking tell me that someone could just love you no matter what. Like even if you did bad at things, or even if you fucked up or even if you asked for help or a fucking hug sometimes, they would actually give it to you? Like if you told your parent that you were hurting, they would care? What a stupid fucking fantasy that is. And I know that it’s reality for a lot of people, but I just almost want to refuse the fact that it exists. The grapes I cannot taste must be sour. But I fucking just wish I could have been loved, not even for how much nicer it would’ve made the rest of my life, and maybe not making me try to kill myself. But even just for the fact that I could see myself as someone worth loving to myself, and to others. Because I say that I love myself and I think I do, but at the same time when I think of anyone else it’s almost like the only thing I should be loved for is either value, or loyalty from value I’ve already provided. And that fucking hurts to go through life that way.