reading this reminds me a lot of my grandparents’ generation, where things were made in lesser quantities and with more care, thus lasting for decades. i think there is a widespread devaluation of that kind of work, of training and spending time making something that will live many lives as you said. i also think that luxury, because there is a classist idealism around it, often has very limited meaning. which makes it seem inaccessible. i think it’s important to consider what luxury is and that it can mean different things to different people, it’s a spectrum and is much more available than we even realize. for instance, taking a nap in the middle of the day. or going on a retreat. sometimes money isn’t as involved (like right now i am spending time on a farm hosted by bipoc for bipoc, and they offer free stays up to 3 nights) being in nature feels like a luxury!!! let’s talk about how this goes hand in hand with caring for each other and the land. i wish we all embraced our contradictions more, because we can’t exist without them. i’ve also been struggling with money, having it and not having it, what it means to want more etc. and am still ironing that out within myself. i feel that personally i am touching on an idea that maybe money isn’t the big bad at all. when it comes to greed it can set its sights on anything -- people, sex, attention, pain even. i don’t think i need to be so frightened of wanting money because it isn’t inherently greedy. isn’t greed connected to alienation? that void we think we need to fill? i just have to keep hoping and trusting that these systems of extraction and violence have inevitable ends since they aren’t sustainable, and that there is a collective decomposition happening for the sake of transformation here. figuring out what i can do in the present has been this push pull of acceptance vs action, which is a challenge.
enuf of me rambling lol 💙 thank you for sharing your journey with us!
As a fellow Capricorn sun & water moon placement, who is desperately trying to do good in this world yet remains lost every second of the way, I have never felt more seen by anyone until I started reading your newsletter. Your words help seek truth within myself. Thank you for sharing such transparency & complexity. xx Mar
I'm so glad you brought this topic here, I left an essay's worth of comments (sorry about that lol) on your post yesterday that disappeared when someone deleted theirs. I think you started an important conversation, it just makes me really sad to see that we can't actually delve into these issues without resorting to hostility and accusations. Unnecessary. I hope things aren't weighing too heavily on you and that the rest of your weekend was rejuvenating 🌷
Dear Fariha, thank you for your newsletter, you write so beautifully and I'm always very moved by your work. But I have to say that the part about being turned on by Stalin's words seems so deeply reckless to me that it really gives me pause, and I'm a bit surprised I'm alone in this. As someone who is in no way identifying with the right side of the political spectrum, but who has grown up in a former totalitarian Soviet satellite state (and therefore my perspective is also not purely theoretical), the word "comrade" already sends chills down my spine, but in the spirit of this post (and your following one), I would like to ask, without assumptions about you or your views, how you personally understand Stalin's place in history? If you find the time to share your perspective in more detail, I'd be very interested to read about it.
reading this reminds me a lot of my grandparents’ generation, where things were made in lesser quantities and with more care, thus lasting for decades. i think there is a widespread devaluation of that kind of work, of training and spending time making something that will live many lives as you said. i also think that luxury, because there is a classist idealism around it, often has very limited meaning. which makes it seem inaccessible. i think it’s important to consider what luxury is and that it can mean different things to different people, it’s a spectrum and is much more available than we even realize. for instance, taking a nap in the middle of the day. or going on a retreat. sometimes money isn’t as involved (like right now i am spending time on a farm hosted by bipoc for bipoc, and they offer free stays up to 3 nights) being in nature feels like a luxury!!! let’s talk about how this goes hand in hand with caring for each other and the land. i wish we all embraced our contradictions more, because we can’t exist without them. i’ve also been struggling with money, having it and not having it, what it means to want more etc. and am still ironing that out within myself. i feel that personally i am touching on an idea that maybe money isn’t the big bad at all. when it comes to greed it can set its sights on anything -- people, sex, attention, pain even. i don’t think i need to be so frightened of wanting money because it isn’t inherently greedy. isn’t greed connected to alienation? that void we think we need to fill? i just have to keep hoping and trusting that these systems of extraction and violence have inevitable ends since they aren’t sustainable, and that there is a collective decomposition happening for the sake of transformation here. figuring out what i can do in the present has been this push pull of acceptance vs action, which is a challenge.
enuf of me rambling lol 💙 thank you for sharing your journey with us!
As a fellow Capricorn sun & water moon placement, who is desperately trying to do good in this world yet remains lost every second of the way, I have never felt more seen by anyone until I started reading your newsletter. Your words help seek truth within myself. Thank you for sharing such transparency & complexity. xx Mar
Sis, Asa, I want to thank you deep for all the love and genius you share with us. With you we grow. Thank you. Blessings and love to you always. Saba
I'm so glad you brought this topic here, I left an essay's worth of comments (sorry about that lol) on your post yesterday that disappeared when someone deleted theirs. I think you started an important conversation, it just makes me really sad to see that we can't actually delve into these issues without resorting to hostility and accusations. Unnecessary. I hope things aren't weighing too heavily on you and that the rest of your weekend was rejuvenating 🌷
Dear Fariha, thank you for your newsletter, you write so beautifully and I'm always very moved by your work. But I have to say that the part about being turned on by Stalin's words seems so deeply reckless to me that it really gives me pause, and I'm a bit surprised I'm alone in this. As someone who is in no way identifying with the right side of the political spectrum, but who has grown up in a former totalitarian Soviet satellite state (and therefore my perspective is also not purely theoretical), the word "comrade" already sends chills down my spine, but in the spirit of this post (and your following one), I would like to ask, without assumptions about you or your views, how you personally understand Stalin's place in history? If you find the time to share your perspective in more detail, I'd be very interested to read about it.
Barbora