catching light in the darkness, passing it on
kindling a new renaissance together
In these dark, divisive times, which can easily beset us with despair, we need each other.
The world around us is loud. Let us do a stranger thing, and together make a practice of wandering into the desert beneath the stars. With our rods in hand, let us have the audacity to fish. Do not be discouraged by the illusion that nothing is happening. There is much life in the desert. Together, we will catch light in the darkness and pass it on.
fishing the universe holds a tackle-box of writings I share because they first brought a glimmer of hope to me. I have reeled them in from the desert.
thoughtworms are hooks for aliveness, short casts into the deep.
innersparks are essays that keep the light, long fires for a long night.
offlines are composed without internet from memory and attention, honest on purpose.
If you are building something, tending something, questioning something, or refusing to live too small or too loud in a world that rewards both, this space is for you. It is a campfire beneath the stars. Let us gather around it to reflect on everything from creative leadership and mythology to the natural world and human condition.
I see you, my fellow human, as a universe. We are not a cold, dead place.
Who am I?
Once upon a time, I was a child living in Fishertown, Pennsylvania. My mother’s maiden name was Fischer. I was given my father’s name and became a Soliday. Named for soul and sol, I came into the world positioned toward inner and outer light. Years later, as if by design, I am like a fisherman who daily casts his line into the cosmos.
I co-founded Epic Ordinary, a guided memoir studio, with Samir Selmanović, where we help people hear the truth about their lives and embody their stories in their own way, in their own world. I facilitate with MIT xPRO, and I am writing three books: The Urgency of Slowing; The Boy, the Truther, and the Looking Glass; and To Those Who Fear Their Story. I believe a new renaissance is underway, and that it begins with story and presence.
A renaissance begins small
I have come to believe the renaissance we need will not arrive from the top. It begins where the loud world forgets to look, in the worth of an ordinary life, told truly. That conviction runs through everything here, through the books I am writing, and through Epic Ordinary’s Change Lives Fund, which writes the life stories of people whose stories serve the common good and who could never pay for it.
There are a few ways to fish alongside me.
You can read selected writings for free, always. You can become a paid subscriber, for $7 a month or $70 a year, and open every writing I publish. Or you can become a renaissance patron, beginning at $100, helping fund the books and seed the Change Lives Fund, and join a large circle of people carrying this renaissance forward. Patrons receive a complimentary one-hour session to explore what their own life is fishing for.
Let’s fish the infinite together
When we get curious about the apparently mundane, we find what matters most. Along the way, as we practice patience, often waiting longer than we want, we sense the sparks of aliveness that want to come back. The waiting prepares us for what wants to be reeled in.
Here, we will return to Ourselves, again and again. Reminded we are stardust burning in the darkness, whom the darkness cannot overcome.
Email: jordan@jordansoliday.com
Business website: epicordinary.com
Personal website: jordansoliday.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jordansoliday
