I dig it. I find my source of continual fire is knowing that I having a calling to perform the work of the sacred in the world. I feel pulled along, instead of needing to push myself from behind all the time with force and effort, like I did for most of my life so far. The more I have come to understand myself as a vessel that receives and participates in knowledge or understanding or inspiration or intuition with sacred reality rather than possessing it (grasping, as you say), the more my life and work seems to flow out of me and the more my energy feels consistent and unified. The more I understand myself as a vessel that needs to be prepared through consistent shaping and firing in the kiln of life through consistent spiritual practices, in order to best orient and fit myself to the sacred (true, good, and beautiful) and participate and mediate it through myself rather than as someone special who possesses something or who has gifts and talents to be used for my own self interest, the better things seem to get. This is not to disparage or take away from anyone making a vocation or life out of their gifts and abilities in doing this, as I suspect both can probably be done. This is my singular, anecdotal experience with regard to much of what was discussed in your manifesto.
I also just want to mention how much I appreciated the nods to urban planning and desire lines and especially Christopher Alexander, he will be eventually thought very highly of some day.
Thank you for your work, it always keeps me thinking and reflecting on my own path and approaches to my life.
Thanks for the post! It touches upon things I've been experimenting with, offering new perspectives on things. I have a friend who's been shilling "the master and his emissary" for over a year now, maybe it's time to give it a go :)
In my terms, this post is about non-coercive motivational systems - a way to act in the world without bossing yourself around. The way I read your post, the "fuel sources" section is the core message, with the other paragraphs offering adjacent advice and insights.
I like the "Ambition" section, it reminds me of a favorite distinction between "liking" and "wanting" - noticing how often we think we want things, even when we don't like them. The "Wholeness", "Necromanagement" and "Trust Timing" all seems related - different ways in which coercion can slip in.
The "Desire Infrastructure" one seems important - an approach in the same domain as "habit stacking" that seems less #grindset:y. It couples well with "Why are you doing it?", as a way to keep track of the "stems", to use your tree metaphor. "Somatic Resonance" seems related, on a more intuitive/embodied level.
I like your suggestion on animism as a way to relate to things in a softer way. I've been exploring the same theme in my substack (https://honestliving.substack.com/p/things-and-beings). I hadn't connected it to non-coercion, and I'm grateful to see it pop up here. I'm fond of mechanistic metaphors, but might want to reconsider the way I word things.
I also enjoyed the "archetypal resonance" segment, it made me think of archetypes as similar to mental models, but for energetic alignment - reusable intuitive metaphors to connect core drives to the mundane.
Finally, environmental cognition and "don't go alone" are great! Moving away from coercive motivational practices requires new ways to find motivation. Having nourishing physical and social contexts are great enablers of this :)
your endless metaphors for fuel-motivators were inspiring to read. im especially fond of the truck:horse dirty:clean metaphor. thank you for sharing your work to everyone.
I dig it. I find my source of continual fire is knowing that I having a calling to perform the work of the sacred in the world. I feel pulled along, instead of needing to push myself from behind all the time with force and effort, like I did for most of my life so far. The more I have come to understand myself as a vessel that receives and participates in knowledge or understanding or inspiration or intuition with sacred reality rather than possessing it (grasping, as you say), the more my life and work seems to flow out of me and the more my energy feels consistent and unified. The more I understand myself as a vessel that needs to be prepared through consistent shaping and firing in the kiln of life through consistent spiritual practices, in order to best orient and fit myself to the sacred (true, good, and beautiful) and participate and mediate it through myself rather than as someone special who possesses something or who has gifts and talents to be used for my own self interest, the better things seem to get. This is not to disparage or take away from anyone making a vocation or life out of their gifts and abilities in doing this, as I suspect both can probably be done. This is my singular, anecdotal experience with regard to much of what was discussed in your manifesto.
I also just want to mention how much I appreciated the nods to urban planning and desire lines and especially Christopher Alexander, he will be eventually thought very highly of some day.
Thank you for your work, it always keeps me thinking and reflecting on my own path and approaches to my life.
Beautiful article River, it feels timely and full of kairos!
Thanks for the post! It touches upon things I've been experimenting with, offering new perspectives on things. I have a friend who's been shilling "the master and his emissary" for over a year now, maybe it's time to give it a go :)
In my terms, this post is about non-coercive motivational systems - a way to act in the world without bossing yourself around. The way I read your post, the "fuel sources" section is the core message, with the other paragraphs offering adjacent advice and insights.
I like the "Ambition" section, it reminds me of a favorite distinction between "liking" and "wanting" - noticing how often we think we want things, even when we don't like them. The "Wholeness", "Necromanagement" and "Trust Timing" all seems related - different ways in which coercion can slip in.
The "Desire Infrastructure" one seems important - an approach in the same domain as "habit stacking" that seems less #grindset:y. It couples well with "Why are you doing it?", as a way to keep track of the "stems", to use your tree metaphor. "Somatic Resonance" seems related, on a more intuitive/embodied level.
I like your suggestion on animism as a way to relate to things in a softer way. I've been exploring the same theme in my substack (https://honestliving.substack.com/p/things-and-beings). I hadn't connected it to non-coercion, and I'm grateful to see it pop up here. I'm fond of mechanistic metaphors, but might want to reconsider the way I word things.
I also enjoyed the "archetypal resonance" segment, it made me think of archetypes as similar to mental models, but for energetic alignment - reusable intuitive metaphors to connect core drives to the mundane.
Finally, environmental cognition and "don't go alone" are great! Moving away from coercive motivational practices requires new ways to find motivation. Having nourishing physical and social contexts are great enablers of this :)
your endless metaphors for fuel-motivators were inspiring to read. im especially fond of the truck:horse dirty:clean metaphor. thank you for sharing your work to everyone.