“Lightness is freedom and opportunity; heaviness is fate and commitment. Both are necessary, and either alone is ruinous.”
This was a fantastic essay but this line especially hits for me. As a young traveller trying to figure out life, I’m constantly trying to find the right balance of lightness and heaviness as you describe them here.
Creating a life in which you have the right balance of each, I believe, is necessary for a full and happy life.
Thank you, Jack! I'm glad the framework resonates. Seeing life through the lens of this duality has helped me make big decisions and find clarity of how I want to spend my time. And I owe it to Iceland.
One of my favorite things is to see an answer to the Springboard in the comments section. Thanks for sharing this! It’s also eerily resonant.
I self-published a book in college and agree completely with those two takeaways. Writing the book made me love the craft of writing and want to do it for the rest of my life. Finishing the book assured me that I can dream up big ideas and make them a reality.
I love this paragraph Garrett. “Lightness is freedom and opportunity; heaviness is fate and commitment. Both are necessary, and either alone is ruinous. Lightness is like fire: brilliant, chaotic, mesmerizing, destructive, life-giving. Heaviness is like ice: structured, solid, slippery, boring, reliable.”
Thank you, James! Writing this essay, I found myself combining a lot of other ideas I’ve written about over the past year (this one from my essay about Icarus and Oedipus). If any themes are emerging, it’s this one about about the paradoxical truths of dualities and the illusory nature of dichotomies.
Something about the way you phrased duality made me tear up. Thanks for sharing. This could be a motto for every day "to prioritize stillness and presence above all else".
Thank *you* for sharing — so glad to hear it resonated. I completely agree. Stillness is something that I don’t have enough of in my life right now. I’m hoping this series helps me prioritize it again.
Garrett, there's this novel by Alice Hoffman called Ice Queen that plays on the duality of fire and ice really well. It's a story about people who were struck by lightening, and how they find redemption. I was reminded of this story when I read your article. Of course Kundera is the first person I think of when I think of duality too but Hoffman does some really interesting things in the novel... I should write about it!
“Lightness is freedom and opportunity; heaviness is fate and commitment. Both are necessary, and either alone is ruinous.”
This was a fantastic essay but this line especially hits for me. As a young traveller trying to figure out life, I’m constantly trying to find the right balance of lightness and heaviness as you describe them here.
Creating a life in which you have the right balance of each, I believe, is necessary for a full and happy life.
Thank you, Jack! I'm glad the framework resonates. Seeing life through the lens of this duality has helped me make big decisions and find clarity of how I want to spend my time. And I owe it to Iceland.
In reponse to your spring board question:
When I finished writing my first book in college, I realized two things.
First, what feels impossibly daunting can be done if you’re patient
Second, nothing will ever satisfy me more than writing
Both those realizations changed my life, and continue to do so
One of my favorite things is to see an answer to the Springboard in the comments section. Thanks for sharing this! It’s also eerily resonant.
I self-published a book in college and agree completely with those two takeaways. Writing the book made me love the craft of writing and want to do it for the rest of my life. Finishing the book assured me that I can dream up big ideas and make them a reality.
I love this paragraph Garrett. “Lightness is freedom and opportunity; heaviness is fate and commitment. Both are necessary, and either alone is ruinous. Lightness is like fire: brilliant, chaotic, mesmerizing, destructive, life-giving. Heaviness is like ice: structured, solid, slippery, boring, reliable.”
Thank you, James! Writing this essay, I found myself combining a lot of other ideas I’ve written about over the past year (this one from my essay about Icarus and Oedipus). If any themes are emerging, it’s this one about about the paradoxical truths of dualities and the illusory nature of dichotomies.
Something about the way you phrased duality made me tear up. Thanks for sharing. This could be a motto for every day "to prioritize stillness and presence above all else".
Thank *you* for sharing — so glad to hear it resonated. I completely agree. Stillness is something that I don’t have enough of in my life right now. I’m hoping this series helps me prioritize it again.
Garrett, there's this novel by Alice Hoffman called Ice Queen that plays on the duality of fire and ice really well. It's a story about people who were struck by lightening, and how they find redemption. I was reminded of this story when I read your article. Of course Kundera is the first person I think of when I think of duality too but Hoffman does some really interesting things in the novel... I should write about it!
Hey Sadia, thanks for the recommendation — I hadn’t heard of that book.
Wonderful chapter headings - looking forward to reading about your spiritual and physical journey,
Thank you, April! This makes me even excited to write the chapters.