Nothing lasts forever, and never has forever had such a short life span as in love and relationships. It was probably the French-Swiss film director, Jean-Luc Godard, who said it best: “A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.” Like stories, this is also true for […]
Category Archives: Essays
On Affairs
When one is wronged, it is easy to feel angry. Anger robs us of the necessary sobriety of thought we need to grieve – something the end of an intimate relationship may need. Anger hi-jacks us of our faculties of thought required to think clearly and deeply about our loss. “Intimate relationships are perilous because […]
In Praise of Melancholy
As a species and a society, we have grown to over romanticize and popularize happiness and have exiled all feelings of the contrary to the unpopular and unwanted crevices of human emotion. We strive only to increase those things that make us happy or that bring happiness to us, and at the slightest surfacing of […]
An Open Letter to Myself
Dear Leo, Its me, you. You and I have been on quite a journey together. We have been through it all; side-by-side. We have cried on our knees at 3am, on the shower floor, we have laughed on mountain tops, and smiled at sunrises. You and I, together, always. You have been on quite the […]
My Talk on Mental Wellness at WordCamp Cape Town 2016
At WordCamp Cape Town this year, I gave talk on Mental Wellness, the WordPress Community, and You. An unusual talk for a tech conference, but one which needed to be spoken about – and I had no idea how it would go down. Watch on WordPress.tv https://twitter.com/maxbarners/status/774164897810657280 Summary: The main point of this talk was […]
Surviving Suicide: Replying to my own suicide note.
A few years ago, I tried to kill myself (Don’t worry, that is far behind me now). Thats the thing about cleaning out and getting organised during a new year, you never know what you’re going to find. Whilst cleaning out my digital notes on Evernote, I found a suicide note I had written many […]
2015 Year in Review
This has been quite the year: I moved cities, spoke at some major events, started out in a fairly new industry, survived, had many ‘firsts’ and successes, as well as a lot of failures too. (please do not mind spelling and grammar issues, I have not edited this text) A big theme this year in my […]
Lessons learned from an examined life – Part 1
In Plato’s Apology, which is a recollection of speeches of Socrates at his trial, he quotes Socrates for having said: ὁ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ Vita nec scrutata vita nequam est. “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates would have much rather given up his life than given up philosophy – and his […]
On Death
“Why should I fear death? If I am, then death is not. If Death is, then I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?” – Epicurus I may soon die. As I now live, these are my thoughts on death. Growing up in a closely-knit religious community […]
On Love
“If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.” ― Osho Love has been the topic of poets, philosophers, and writers […]