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philosophy, mathematics, and other joys

Note 1

My idea for this blog is to collect and catalog things that bring me joy. Why am I doing this? Well, my life feels lacking in joy due to some Big Depressed Moods that have been haunting my life the past few weeks. So this is a willful effort to (1) notice the joyous things that I would otherwise dismiss and (2) seek out more things that might bring me joy. Traditional diaries and journals have never worked well for me (I always forget), so for these posts I’ll try to keep them short and simple. What kinds of things will I be cataloguing? Poems, stories, songs, theorems, concepts, jokes, comic panels, whatever. I’m willing to love everything.

The first thing that brought me joy was this poem by Wallace Stevens. It put me in mind of places where I always feel less anxious (even when I’m terrified), less lonely (even when I’m alone), and more attentive (even when I’m at my weakest and least caring): great cavernous rooms (like university library reading rooms), half-outdoor spaces at twilight (amphitheaters, pre-game football stadiums), and generally any place with comfortable silence and reading light.