Phosphorescence

by Julia Baird

think the central idea of awe is to quiet self-interest for a moment and to fold us into the social collective.’

‘All sanity depends on this: that it should be a delight to feel the roughness of a carpet under smooth soles, a delight to feel heat strike the skin, a delight to stand upright, knowing the bones are moving easily under flesh.’

‘turn off the lights, look up — and begin healing, amidst wonders that make my small pain even smaller — until it disappears altogether. How can anything you say, or do, or feel matter beneath such stunning beauty and depth?

When in doubt, uncertain of yourself and frustrated by everything, focus on other people.

employment, it’s finding a meaningful hobby that absorbs your fascination to a place where depression just can’t get in. It just can’t exist when you are in that place. So that’s ert. Find something you love.’

Ert is that tiny spark within us that reaches out of the mess of daily life towards what is good, and towards what it is we most crave to be, do and love. Sometimes, it is simply a drive to survive.