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Caution: This was originally published in Les's Apple Notes on April 8th, 2023. Then shared with Takeshi on Farcaster Feb 8th, 2023 through sheer happenstance. Shared with you now through sheer destiny. Maz is to blame for it making it to Paragraph.
A "Tell" of Time
A common theme for the last 6 years of my life has been, compression of time.
It’s definitely a weird feeling to have that sense. Something builds up, compresses, then unleashes. Each time, you feel a build up, wondering what this feeling is, then, releaaaase, and you feel like it wasn’t much of anything, but then something else happens, building on the previous thing, making you realize, okay, yeah, it was something after all.
Each time, there is apprehension of, “what is this sense of compression I feel in my chest”. Some may attribute this to meaning, or sense making. But this is beyond that, this is “time-travel”.
For a while, I thought this would stop happening. After each compression, and each release, at some point it all ends. This may be true, it all does end, the end is simply death. Between then and now, it doesn’t end. So long as you are progressing with information and you respect the minds need for space.
Why do I say “time-travel”?
Simple, the time has shrunk between each compression cycle. Each sense of compression and release has felt bigger and bigger. Yet, the time taken to build up and release the compressions have been smaller and smaller.
In other words; it almost feels like I’m slowing time down, processing way more, while more things are happening around me and to me, with the exact same time as before.
IRL examples:
Just like this exchange with Takeshi.
Conversation with Maz
Extra Material below. The original article ended above this. You don't have to read this. Just me taking notes really.
Small update since publishing (~48mins ago):
When you can compress more into less time you get to do more things for your family. This is underlying reason I so strongly believe in web3. A decentralized society can live a richer more "full-er" life. Yes, I also see some down-sides, those down-sides are inevitable, just like living a richer life is. Don't fool yourself.
From the moment of posting this till now (~50 mins ago):
I have reached out to people all over the world. Submitted docs on shitty comm channels. Worked on some ideas. I think I am helping troubleshoot a product that I love, nf.td. Checked some socials. Wrote another peace (yes I wrote peace). Probably some other stuff I can't think of right now but imagine the possibility.
Last thought (~53 mins ago):
Imagine if more families around the world existed knowing they could do their life's work, by growing their family, and providing for their family without the modern day constraints of time. I say we change time. Who knows maybe birth rates increase? Nah, this is too good to be true. For another fiction story some day. Would we need to solve energy first? Mmh. I wander.
I woke up today (~2hours ago).
Shit am I being unproductive with my time? Nah i'm good. brb. Going to check Farcaster.
I mean, c'mon. I even got to edit my plane tickets for my 3yo who insisted her 8month old be written in on the ticket.
over 2 years from writing these notes. I come back to obsidian with a different mind however similar opinions. I think I'm going to give obsidian a harder shot now because I am in the biggest compression of my life and I want 1 place that has word counts, download into a set structure, API/tools integrations capability, and all of me centralized af. Does this make sense? is obsidian where I get that?
cc: some people I enjoy writing perspectives from. @kepano @danicaswanson @wanderloots.eth @naomiii @tombeck.eth
Although I do love Obsidian, I don't use it much because my writing habits have been acclimated to Scrivener for well over a decade, and switching costs would be too high for me. If I ever reach the end of my rope with Scrivnener, though, I'll pick up Obsidian again. If Obsidian had been around when I got started as a writer, I'd likely still be using it today. Make of that what you will. I like @cbxm's take elsewhere in the thread: "if there's something out there that you already like and enjoy and doesn't get in the way of your process, then I'd say don't bother with Obsidian. "but if your existing tools are giving you grief and you've got some time to tinker, it's pretty satisfying to put together a vault just the way you like it."
unrelated to the thread, i just wanna say Scrivener is so sick and i wish i'd been a bit more serious of a writer when i first started using it. that's all.
Ohhh yeah! I use obsidian for all of my writing, pretty much every day. I actually have a YouTube series on it, explaining how to structure your notes for automatic organization and to enable emergent insights. This is also the system I use for publishing to my digital garden via an obsidian plugin. How I Automatically Organize My Obsidian Vault 📥 (Smart Inbox & Index) https://youtu.be/-5IcgqlwYMA How I Organize My Obsidian Vault 📥 Tags, Topics & Maps of Content https://youtu.be/sZxYau21D20
@les if you’re newer to obsidian, I also have an overview video that walks through all of the major features that I find helpful, along with an explanation on what a digital garden is, something I think you resonated with previously: Obsidian For Beginners 📝 Non-Linear Note Taking, Plugins & Templates https://youtu.be/d2BkvqbTPjk What Is A Digital Garden? 🌱 Benefits & Philosophy - Obsidian PKM https://youtu.be/en56OKg5hyc
Ironically, I use Obsidian to write first drafts and basically never use the linking feature. In fact, I use a plugin that blocks out most features (I think it's called typewriter). I use Apple Notes for note-taking because I like how simple and expendable the notes feel. I don't want to structure my thinking, I just want to throw thoughts into the digital ether and see what bubbles up later. So there's a continuum of rough -> polished that goes: Apple Notes -> Obsidian -> Scrivener -> publication platform (i.e., Paragraph). For whatever reason, only fiction goes in Scrivener (because it's the only writing I "work at" for a long time). Essays go from Obsidian straight into the platform: then quick polish, post. But, I do think there's an interesting possibility of using Obsidian to build fictional universes (and I was, in fact, working on an essay draft on that topic this morning, so more to come!)
thanks for sharing Tom! gave me energy
So glad to hear!
dear baby jesus. it was so easy to create a new excalidraw drawing from direct thought-line. I'm shook. Came here to cast it because I feel like christmas morning.
Excalidraw is lovely yes!
I use it frequently it’s the other side of my notes/writing.
this flow is really starting to feel intuitive instead of forced. in the end I think my writing is going to be what I end my life with but for now it'll have to do.
Imported practically all of my writing from Apple, Roam. Even revisited Evernote notes what a mess they are. Also published most of the raw stuff for the "Life of Essays" segment of my work via Obsidian Publish. That was fairly confusing. Now to structure the hot mess.
makes all the sense in the world babe. we’re on the same path
Yes - my use has centered around just daily notes and not trying to over engineer or overthink things. Just dump a lot, knowing I can work with things over time. I want to hear more about the biggest compression of your life, though
kinda starts here (image from link). I hope to be publishing more soon. We shall see. In the meantime, if you have specific questions happy to answer them. I just know things are compressing because my chest feels it, but as I say in my writings.... it's a pattern of life, nothing else. https://paragraph.xyz/@lesgreys/the-compression-of-time
Sounds like mid-life to me. The mind definitely needs a lot more space. ❤️
that doesn't sound too far off.
Obsidian is pretty powerful, if it's not running the way you want it to there's almost certainly a way to make it do that. if you want it to, Obsidian can do and be just about anything. in my experience, most people don't want to be power users, though. they want something that works out of the box. something opinionated, or something simple. so if there's something out there that you already like and enjoy and doesn't get in the way of your process, then I'd say don't bother with Obsidian. but if your existing tools are giving you grief and you've got some time to tinker, it's pretty satisfying to put together a vault just the way you like it.
mmh. I write everywhere. I want 1 place to wrap an ai around it at some point. I want to compress all 600k words into 1 place. And tinker with those words. You think this is it?
in a word: yes. in more words: check out Khoj and Copilot from the Community Plugins. and if you want something custom, it's not too hard to write a custom plugin yourself (this is what i did). and since Obsidian is local-first and all your files are on-device, you're not married to it if there's another AI tool that works better for your specific needs. for example: the Claude desktop app can be granted filesystem access right now. so you can point it at the folders your writings are in and work with them that way.
Thank you for this succinctness in explanation.
Whenever I open up obsidian, I have Paul Rudd give me a pep talk
Lol. I need Paul Rudd in my life.
Ha! Reading your notes made me chuckle, I might as well have been reading my inner monologue when using a tool. I was a heavy Roam user - swapping to Obsidian was not the easiest swap to make, yet it was 100% the right decision (I am four/five years on now). Firstly, I have it feeling like the most beautiful app I have ever used. I look forward to opening it and writing. The need for a little bit more structure, has forced me to simplify my notes, rather than just chucking things into Roam and not thinking too much about where they go. I have become much more intentional for it.
is this your actual obsidian? love the cleanliness. and yeah, most of my writing is a storyline of the inner monologue weaved with external experiencing. mmh.. thanks for helping me put a name on that.. kinda like this.
Thanks! Yeah it is, I try keep it as stripped back as possible. Honestly, I love that style of writing. I keep it primarily for notes that will never see the light of day, but reading your piece there It feels more natural somehow and I find it much easier to read.
Interesting that you find it easier to read. Thank you for sharing that. I'm hoping to make most of my writing public soon. It all basically fits into that style of writing.
revisiting this feeling today in a very different light and sense. https://paragraph.xyz/@lesgreys/the-compression-of-time
https://aeon.co/essays/time-is-not-an-illusion-its-an-object-with-physical-size Real brain burner here that has me rethinking my allegiance to team Timeless Physics.
You might like spoken word poem this from The Last Poets. ~2mins “Time is an inanimate object paying and paying and paying for no justification for belief” https://youtu.be/tlccSXuSRuU
https://paragraph.xyz/@lesgreys/the-compression-of-time