Welcome to the Time Capsule — a weekly newsletter that discusses the practicalities of life and explores the wisdom, ideas, and events of the past to help you build a better future.
💭 Quote of the Week
Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather and a little music played out of doors by somebody I do not know.
John Keats
✏️ Chapter 2
At the door was Johnson, six feet tall, carrying a leather suitcase, leaning slightly on his left leg and tapping his brown suede shoe.
“Johnson!” Elijah said, “My goodness you’ve aged! How are you, my friend? How was the journey?”
“Ah, long but enjoyable. I can see why you never leave home — I must admit, there is something to country living that feels right.”
“Well, you must come more often. Molly has been asking me to invite you to stay for ages, and it is of course your work that coerced you! Tell me, how’s the business going?”
Johnson, always eager to discuss what he considered his extremely important and influential work, spoke at length and with that special vibrancy with which he spoke about things near to his heart — he had just been promoted and was now the lead negotiator for his company, which required even more travelling and work in addition to his already unsurmountable workload. Nevertheless, he felt this increase in position was a great victory, bringing him closer to the pinnacle of society, and he took to his work with more vigour than before.
The two men sat on the old but well-made barstools in the kitchen, discussing their work and relations and the latest news as a light rain beat a steady tempo against the window. Elijah heated more water for coffee and served Johnson what was left from his breakfast. Having not seen his friend for some time, he had worried that their differences in lifestyle had put an insurmountable barrier between the two former friends and that this would make for an unnatural and awkward visit. Instead, seeing Johnson’s maturing but familiar face and feeling the characteristic likeableness that exuded from his pores, all his previous apprehensions faded — he felt nothing had changed and they were evermore the best of friends.
📸 Photo of the Week
📖 Book of the Week — Modern Man In Search Of A Soul by Carl Jung
Published in 1933, Modern Man In Search Of A Soul is a collection of essays which are now a foundational work in the field of psychoanalysis. He discusses the utility of dreams for psychological diagnosis, extraversion & introversion, stages of life, psychology & literature, and the spiritual problem of modern man.
Some of my favourite quotes from this work include:
What is essential in a work of art is that it should rise far above the realm of personal life and speak from the spirit and heart of the poet as man to the spirit and heart of mankind.
The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.
I have treated many hundreds of patients. Among those in the second half of life - that is to say, over 35 - there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them fell ill because he had lost that which the living religions of every age have given their followers, and none of them has really been healed who did not regain his religious outlook.
💡 Food for Thought
A king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others.
Set your own price.
🔭 Sunday Best
Everything Happens to Me — by Chet Baker. I love this song.
Antifascist Exploité — On the latest French election and the new political divide in France. Written by Pierre-Hugues Barré, Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law at Sciences Po Paris and an Academic Visitor at Oxford, Faculty of Law.
A Playlist for Night Readers — a classical music playlist that goes quite well with a paperback & a hot beverage.
Statistical tests, P values, confidence intervals, and power: a guide to misinterpretations — published by Greenland et. al in the European Journal of Epidemiology (2016). Super important article for anyone involved in the performance and/or interpretation of scientific research.
Cheers,
AT