I really like the font on Substack. I believe it’s called “Spectral.” I might try writing over there for a bit. Who knows? Shifting platforms. I’m getting some good views on this, but I wonder if it’s more just the whole “Broken River Books” thing.

It is Mercury Retrograde, and I have been told enough times to not start anything new while Retrograde is in effect. Because, you know, it’ll make it so that it never takes off. Idk.

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I’ve been playing a lot of Dark Souls 3 lately. I’m currently in the Profaned Capital. I haven’t been using walkthroughs or very many tips for this one, just to see how far I can get without. The few times I have, it was because I was genuinely lost. Sometimes, to progress in a DS game, you have to go through a door that’s hidden behind rubble or some shit. So yeah, I definitely gave in after that.

But I think I’m now an average Soulsborne player. Not good, but okay. I get the idea. Go into a new area and expect death. I take one path as far as I can, and then when I inevitably get killed, I either go back for my souls (if I’m focused on leveling) or I take another path as far as I can go. The feeling of maps coming into focus in my head is very satisfying. As is leveling up weapons and stats. The whole process is delightful to me. I wish there were more of these games. Elden Ring in January! (Maybe.)

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Charles Eisenstein had a great quote in his latest essay:

If I am not brave, what reason have I to hope others will be? Courage and cowardice both are contagious. My choice establishes a principle of human nature. It declares not only who I am, but what a human being is. and what the world shall be. Each choice is therefore a prayer. Our choices scaffold divine creation.

That is why synchronicity so often congeals around bravery. Synchronicity is the snapping of the laws of probability as reality shifts to align with brave choices.

Seeing that creative power, one knows the despair was based on false premises. The ego’s cautious logic is reversed. The ego says, “Give me a guarantee that it will work and I’ll be OK, then I’ll do it.” The ego says, “Promise me that enough other people will resist, and then I’ll resist too. Prove to me it won’t be in vain. Guarantee that others will join in.” God says, “Show me that you want a more beautiful world enough to actually risk something with no guarantee. Then you will see results beyond all reckoning.”

He’s talking about the Covid Vaccine Mandates here, of course, but I think it’s useful in general. The idea that you have to prove to the universe that you’re actually willing to do the work and take the risk, in order for the universe to give back.

Worth thinking about.