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If you find any joy and value in it, please consider becoming a Member and supporting with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner: (If you dont have a PayPal account, no need to sign up for one – you can just use any credit or debit card.) You can also become a one-time patron with a single donation in any amount: labors of love must-reads 7 THINGS I LEARNED IN 7 YEARS OF READING, WRITING, AND LIVING HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND DO WHAT YOU LOVE AN ANTIDOTE TO THE AGE OF ANXIETY: ALAN WATTS ON HAPPINESS AND HOW TO LIVE WITH PRESENCE WHY TIME SLOWS DOWN WHEN WE’RE AFRAID, SPEEDS UP AS WE AGE, AND GETS WARPED WHILE ON VACATION HOW TO BE ALONE: AN ANTIDOTE TO ONE OF THE CENTRAL ANXIETIES AND GREATEST PARADOXES OF OUR TIME 20-YEAR-OLD HUNTER S. THOMPSON’S SUPERB ADVICE ON HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE FAIL SAFE: DEBBIE MILLMAN ON COURAGE AND THE CREATIVE LIFE FAMOUS WRITERS ON THE CREATIVE BENEFITS OF KEEPING A DIARY HOW TO WORRY LESS ABOUT MONEY FAMOUS WRITERS ON WRITING WHAT IS LOVE? FAMOUS DEFINITIONS FROM 400 YEARS OF LITERARY HISTORY THE DAILY ROUTINES OF FAMOUS WRITERS ALBERT EINSTEIN ON THE SECRET TO LEARNING ANYTHING CARL SAGAN ON SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY JOHN STEINBECK ON FALLING IN LOVE: A 1958 LETTER THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE: SENECA ON BUSYNESS AND THE ART OF LIVING WIDE RATHER THAN LIVING LONG explore activism advertising animation art books childrens books collaboration creativity culture data visualization design diaries documentary education film happiness history illustration innovation interview knowledge letters literature love music omnibus out of print philosophy photography poetry politics psychology religion remix science social web SoundCloud sustainability technology TED video vintage vintage childrens books world writing How Van Gogh Found His Purpose: Heartfelt Letters to His Brother on How Relationships Refine Us By: Maria Popova “Does what goes on inside show on the outside? Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney.” Long before Vincent van Gogh became a creative legend and attained such mastery of art that he explained nature better than science, he confronted the same existential challenge many young people and aspiring artists face as they set out to find their purpose and do what they love — something that often requires the discomfiting uncertainty of deviating from the beaten path. In January of 1879, twenty-six-year-old Van Gogh, who had dropped out of high school, was given a six-month appointment as a preacher in a small village — a job that consisted of giving Bible readings, teaching schoolchildren, and caring for the sick and poor. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the task and, in solidarity with the poor, gave away all of his possessions to live in a tiny hut, where he slept on the ground. But his commitment backfired — the church committee that had hired him saw this as extravagant posturing of humility and fired him. In August, Van Gogh moved to a nearby village and took up drawing and writing — which he had been doing recreationally for years, for his own pleasure — as a more serious endeavor. That summer, his beloved brother Theo visited to discuss Vincent’s future, making it clear that the family was concerned with his lack of direction. (Vincent was the eldest of six children, which only compounded the expectations.) The uncomfortable talk, which initially caused a rift between the brothers, affected Van Gogh profoundly and became a serious turning point in his life. Young Vincent van Gogh On August 14, 1879, he wrote an exquisite letter to Theo, found in the newly released 800-page treasure trove Ever Yours: The Essential Letters (public library | IndieBound). The letter endures as a piercing testament to the conviction that, as another famous young man wrote in his own defense of the unbeaten path, “it is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it.” Van Gogh begins by turning a wise eye to the silver lining of why the conversation had hurt and riled him so: It’s better that we feel something for each other rather than behave like corpses toward one another, the more so because as long as one has no real right to be called a corpse by being legally dead, it smacks of hypocrisy or at least childishness to pose as such… The hours we spent together in this way have at least assured us that we’re both still in the land of the living. When I saw you again and took a walk with you, I had the same feeling I used to have more than I do now, as though life were something good and precious that one should cherish, and I felt more cheerful and alive than I had been for a long time, cause in spite of myself life has gradually become or has seemed much less precious to me, much more unimportant and indifferent. When one lives with others and is bound by a feeling of affection one is aware that one has a reason for being, that one might not be entirely worthless and superfluous but perhaps good for one thing or another, considering that we need one another and are making the same journey as traveling companions. Proper self-respect, however, is also very dependent on relations with others. Noting the “salutary effect” his brother’s visit had on him, Van Gogh speaks to the soul-nurturing power of close relationships: A prisoner who’s kept in isolation, who’s prevented from working &c., would in the long run, especially if this were to last too long, suffer the consequences just as surely as one who went hungry for too long. Like everyone else, I have need of relationships of friendship or affection or trusting companionship, and am not like a street pump or lamp-post, whether of stone or iron, so that I can’t do without them without perceiving an emptiness and feeling their lack, like any other generally civilized and highly respectable man.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 20:21:28 +0000
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