Story Paths

A poem from Rilke converses with the Hindu aesthetic system of rasa.A good book about rasa.Rilke’s full poem:The Man WatchingBy Rainer Maria RilkeI can tell by the way the trees beat, afterso many dull days, on my worried windowpanesthat a storm is coming,and I hear the far-off fields say thingsI can’t bear without a friend,I can’t love without a sister.The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives onacross the woods and across time,and the world looks as if it had no age:the landscape, like a line in the psalm book,is seriousness and weight and eternity.What we choose to fight is so tiny!What fights with us is so great.If only we would let ourselves be dominatedas things do by some immense storm,we would become strong too, and not need names.When we win it’s with small things,and the triumph itself makes us small.What is extraordinary and eternaldoes not want to be bent by us.I mean the Angel who appearedto the wrestlers of the Old Testament:when the wrestlers’ sinewsgrew long like metal strings,he felt them under his fingerslike chords of deep music.Whoever was beaten by this Angel(who often simply declined the fight)went away proud and strengthenedand great from that harsh hand,that kneaded him as if to change his shape.Winning does not tempt that man.This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,by constantly greater beings.–Translated by Robert BlyFree Story & Media ConsultationComment and Subscribe here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Snuffle, sniffle…A podcast isn’t interviews, or music, or rants, or radio plays.Not necessarily.A podcast is sound.Except when it’s a puppy.This podcast wanders and wags, following trails through mossy soundscapes and whispered words.Curious, it circles someone’s feet, nuzzling the edges of what is knows. It trots off again: tail high, ears perked, seeking stories in the wind.Sniffle, snuffle…Free Story & Media ConsultationComment and Subscribe here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

A man is pulled into a wild current, and emerges more curvaceous than he went in.Needles pierce fabric, thread pulling tight, creating and mending.Between drowning and dreaming, between bed and abyss, something is being stitched.Something is unraveling.Free Story & Media ConsultationComment & Subscribe Here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

An agreement broken. Hillsides torn open, stone bones exposed. Trains roll on—steel to wood, wood to stone, stone to soil, mile after mile.Some circle familiar fires. Others wander to where tangled stories grow, where a truth too large splits its own shell.When the story cracks, something new sings through.Come listen, sit beneath this tree, even if it drips sap.Free Story & Media ConsultationComment and Subscribe here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Can a Wall Street refugee find peace in a hut by the sea?How do you grieve being born into an army?Praise for the beings in my life.There’s a river running through us, every time we drink and pee. It carries shame, blood, joy, songs.Bats cut the badlands sky.A traditional man softens. Who gets to cry? Who gets to weave?Another man steps into the ocean and forgets himself. He comes back with nothing.But what’s that he’s offering to the being who sent him in?The waters are rising. Step in.Free Story & Media ConsultationComment & Subscribe Here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Prescription pads crumble into compost. The wind hums a second opinion.Healing isn’t in the pill, but in the soil, in the hands, in the rhythm of breath.The council of healers is vast—grandmothers, rivers, fungi, grief.What does medicine look like when it stops rushing? When it listens?My friend Amy Walsh M.D., an emergency room doctor, joins me for blue-sky dreaming of what health care could be.A conversation on restoration, reciprocity, and the art of being well.Read Amy’s wonderful writing here.Free Story & Media ConsultationComment and Subscribe here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

A friend asked me, 'Are you neurodiverse?' Here's my reply. What might yours be?Free consultation for your creative projects: https://tidycal.com/theodorestorypaths/15-minute-meetingComment here: https://storypaths.substack.com/p/e197d8e0-7b98-4c0f-9e46-a80b8232b1e3 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

In a recent grief ceremony, a simple practice made sharing together possible.https://storypaths.substack.com/p/8b6dc400-9b83-4174-bec3-8e047707543fFree consultation for your creative projects: https://tidycal.com/theodorestorypaths/15-minute-meetingComment here: https://storypaths.substack.com/p/e197d8e0-7b98-4c0f-9e46-a80b8232b1e3 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

A message from the land itself. Juniper grass, mullein hills, rabbits taking notes on human absurdity. Dark moonshine, saffron sunsets, an old stump humming. Somewhere, an oak tree nods in approval.Comment here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

I must do what I must do. But as a friend, I ask you honestly if you want something more coherent and less experimentalFree consultation for your creative projects: https://tidycal.com/theodorestorypaths/15-minute-meetingComment here: https://storypaths.substack.com/p/1c1e2383-21c4-4cf3-a9a1-23af8a074de3 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe