Joyful! What a marvelous post. I pull a tarot card every morning for just this reason-- to keep myself in dialogue with all the things I don't understand and can't control. Maybe because, as Eno says (thanks to you)-- that is when we feel most alive. When I clicked your last link, to pull my oblique strategy message, I felt like a little kid, standing in front of a perfectly closed door. 🙂
That's so cool that you pull a tarot card every morning, Shelley! I might start refreshing the Oblique Strategies page every day — or at least once a week? I'll have to find the right cadence. Thanks for the kind words!
Mason, I can't tell you how great this post was for me this morning. I'm actually crying, haha, and in a minute I'll tell you why. Firstly - last night I visited with a friend who'd recently been to California, and she'd brought me a gift. It was from her visit to SF MoMA, and it was a box of cards called "The Marina Abramović Method - Instruction Cards to Reboot Your Life". As far as I can tell, it's kind of the same idea as the Oblique Strategies deck. My friend got them for me because back in 2015 I did a 100 Day Project where I painted 100 faces from Abramović's 2010 performance piece, The Artist is Present. Anyway, I thanked her for the gift and remarked on how beautiful the box was, but in my mind I was thinking "I'm never going to use this" because it seemed like a beautiful but gimmicky thing that you get from a gallery gift shop. THEN. Your post! As I was reading, I felt more and more excited and intrigued by how you allowed the deck to steer you through what you were writing. Then the quote from Eno about aliveness in art when you allow risk... ideas so close to my heart, though I still often fear the risk! Then on to what you wrote about Another Green World - "free from error". I *thought* I was at the peak of tripping on your post right there. But THEN. I went to the Oblique Strategies website and I got "Disciplined self-indulgence" and I started to cry. I don't have room here to describe what this means to me, but basically it speaks to what I wrestle with most when it comes to allowing myself to "indulge" in creating art. Thank you Mason. I have a feeling that this is a post I'm going to read through a few times ❤️🔥
B.A. — This is so moving, thank you for sharing! And, yes, DISCIPLINED SELF-INDULGENCE — that is the goal, isn't it? I wrestle with it, too (usually erring too much in favor of discipline, I think). I also left this post thinking a lot about *play* — Eno is very serious but he also loves to play in the studio, and I like that combination a lot.
I'm in the middle of revising my memoir and I am so excited to put the oblique strategies to work. The first instruction I got was "use unqualified people." Does this mean I should ask my kids to weigh in on the plot? (Or maybe they're actually qualified since they are characters in the book.) Do I go outside and ask my neighbor about literary memoirs while he's trimming his oak tree? I'm not sure yet, but it's going to be interesting!
Mason, I loved this! And the quote you pulled where Eno talks about the value of randomness is so profound and insightful—"what makes any work of art interesting or gripping or effective is the feeling that somebody…was living it; somebody was alert and alive and passionate in some way. And the way you get into that state is by being in unfamiliar territory."
And it was so fun to read your responses to the cards you pulled. I've started using my Oblique Strategies deck in a similar way—a kind of divinatory technique to help me push back whatever's stalling me in a project. I wrote a bit about it here…specifically drawing 3 cards (to guide the start, middle, and end of a project), but I want to try doing this as a daily practice too! https://www.personalcanon.com/p/oblique-strategies-for-starting-a
I actually fell off the habit for the last month…this post inspired me to begin again! (It's hard to sustain a creative habit and be very consistent—but being kind of consistent seems to be just as fulfilling, honestly)
I love your Žižek post! And Cheryl Strayed quote too; it's such a good reminder that writing is, often, an unglamorous task of just pushing through. What Strayed said about surrendering to her own mediocrity and just finishing! the! book!—it's exactly the advice I need right now.
Oh I love love love this. Oblique Strategies have been a daily part of my life for years: I’m part of Morning Writing Club, which also meets weekdays on Zoom, and every morning, we begin our sessions with an Oblique Strategies card pull. My favorite: “Repetition is a form of change.” Second favorite: “Courage!”
Oh, what a cool way to start your AM Zoom! I love that. My favorite card at the moment is "Honor thy error as a hidden intention" (very Freudian, come to think of it).
How odd! That I should be confronted this morning with an answer to my query sent out to the clouds is (almost algorithmically) odd. I had asked myself yesterday morning before I took myself to a local Cafe- the closest being a McDonalds - How do I know I'm alive? Outside the doin' all the things, what proof do I have? My phone was off, even, no listening to inside my head anyway.
Rubin's book is a godsend! And now I have this, too!
Corrine — I love the idea of you asking deep questions about existence at your local McDonald's! And then getting a sort of answer via my newsletter. Hope the Oblique Strategies keep your queries flowing in fruitful directions.
Hey Mason! It was definitely an occasion where my sense of "loneliness" was brought into question. I live in suburbia where I am seeing forward as a regenerative suburban "gardener", a multidisciplinary renaissance person. It can get "lonely". Except...what does that really mean? Shifting perspective while staying in place is just too hard sometimes. I'm not typically a fast-food person. It's more about humaning.
The oblique strategies had me spend the day in silence and practicing Handel's The Messiah without singing, only with the rhythm. Made for a very interesting day!
Thank you for the perfect Monday morning boost! I am signing off so that I can check out the Oblique Strategies. Your time and insights are appreciated!
Thank you for reminding me how much I love Eno... "Ambient 1: Music for Airports" is a favorite! Now I'll have to see if that documentary is still playing...
I could tell I would be obsessed with Oblique Strategies deck the moment you mentioned it. I am sure I've heard of it before (maybe through a marketing conference workshop last year--I won a deck of cards that might have been inspired by OS, I have to find the deck again and see). But I'm worried I'll try to use it too often to solve creative conundrums. How often is too often to look outside for inspiration? It's just something I'll have to work out, I guess.
I really related to Brian Eno's frustration and the feeling that he didn't know what he was doing. I feel that way often working on my current WIP. It feels like crap so much of the time, but I don't have any choice to keep going at it. There's something to be said for reaching beyond what you think you're good at, in hopes of achieving a greater vision. It's rough, but worth it.
I drew "water" when I clicked on the web portal for Oblique Strategies just now. Like you, I'm in southern California and it reminded me that I need to put water in the pool today. Also, it reminds me that I need to go with the flow, detach from outcomes, embrace the moment instead of fighting against it.
Feels like a perfect prompt for a first comment here, although instead of building walls, my bricks are best for building bridges. The brick is the trace, the single comment, the first step we take in building relationships with people. And if it's a wall that they add up to, it's the wall that holds in the earth, the rich hummus (not the food, but the soil) that will nurture all the growth we want to achieve. The brick is a step towards the person. The person is part of a community. The community is what enriches us, feeds us, and helps us to grow. A wall doesn't have to separate, it can also contain. I love this concept and may, just may, have to try the same for my newsletter this week. Thanks - this is wonderful.
This is such a good idea! Funnily enough, just a couple of weeks ago I made myself an Oblique Strategies randomiser in Notion - more as a procrastination task than anything else, though I did think it might help me get unstuck on a few things. I need to go and use it.
A highly entertaining news letter. I was lucky enough to go to the premier of Eno’s documentary film at the Barbican. He talked about his Oblique Strategies and how he and Bowie used them to write songs in Berlin. Sometimes resulting in an interesting clash of results. I have my own set by my Mac. Let me take a look now… Mmmm it says decorate decorate. I see it as a potential clothes shop trip. I need a new winter jacket. I keep nicking my sons!
"How one feels when making something actually says very little about the quality of what one is making." Truer words were never spoken, Mason! Thanks so much for this reminder and for your beautiful newsletter. It fills me with joy and inspiration reading it every other Monday. My oblique strategy for today is "Ask people to work against their better judgement." Let's see how that manifests throughtout the day. Thanks again and looking forward to your next newsletter!
I got a deck of Oblique Strategies when I was 20, in 1977-78, I think. I love them and they’re dog-eared. I was delighted to find the web version, because you never know when you may need to draw some random direction! My one for you today is: “What is the Reality of the Situation?” Indeed!
Joyful! What a marvelous post. I pull a tarot card every morning for just this reason-- to keep myself in dialogue with all the things I don't understand and can't control. Maybe because, as Eno says (thanks to you)-- that is when we feel most alive. When I clicked your last link, to pull my oblique strategy message, I felt like a little kid, standing in front of a perfectly closed door. 🙂
That's so cool that you pull a tarot card every morning, Shelley! I might start refreshing the Oblique Strategies page every day — or at least once a week? I'll have to find the right cadence. Thanks for the kind words!
Mason, I can't tell you how great this post was for me this morning. I'm actually crying, haha, and in a minute I'll tell you why. Firstly - last night I visited with a friend who'd recently been to California, and she'd brought me a gift. It was from her visit to SF MoMA, and it was a box of cards called "The Marina Abramović Method - Instruction Cards to Reboot Your Life". As far as I can tell, it's kind of the same idea as the Oblique Strategies deck. My friend got them for me because back in 2015 I did a 100 Day Project where I painted 100 faces from Abramović's 2010 performance piece, The Artist is Present. Anyway, I thanked her for the gift and remarked on how beautiful the box was, but in my mind I was thinking "I'm never going to use this" because it seemed like a beautiful but gimmicky thing that you get from a gallery gift shop. THEN. Your post! As I was reading, I felt more and more excited and intrigued by how you allowed the deck to steer you through what you were writing. Then the quote from Eno about aliveness in art when you allow risk... ideas so close to my heart, though I still often fear the risk! Then on to what you wrote about Another Green World - "free from error". I *thought* I was at the peak of tripping on your post right there. But THEN. I went to the Oblique Strategies website and I got "Disciplined self-indulgence" and I started to cry. I don't have room here to describe what this means to me, but basically it speaks to what I wrestle with most when it comes to allowing myself to "indulge" in creating art. Thank you Mason. I have a feeling that this is a post I'm going to read through a few times ❤️🔥
B.A. — This is so moving, thank you for sharing! And, yes, DISCIPLINED SELF-INDULGENCE — that is the goal, isn't it? I wrestle with it, too (usually erring too much in favor of discipline, I think). I also left this post thinking a lot about *play* — Eno is very serious but he also loves to play in the studio, and I like that combination a lot.
Play is important—of this I have no doubt. But it's yet another thing I find so hard to do 😅
I'm in the middle of revising my memoir and I am so excited to put the oblique strategies to work. The first instruction I got was "use unqualified people." Does this mean I should ask my kids to weigh in on the plot? (Or maybe they're actually qualified since they are characters in the book.) Do I go outside and ask my neighbor about literary memoirs while he's trimming his oak tree? I'm not sure yet, but it's going to be interesting!
Love this! I would say: Ask your kids and your neighbor! I feel 100-percent certain that something useful will come out of both conversations.
Love this issue! I want to invest in the oblique cards! And thanks for the sweet shout out 🧡
Yes, I think I'm going to ask for the physical deck for Christmas!
Mason, I loved this! And the quote you pulled where Eno talks about the value of randomness is so profound and insightful—"what makes any work of art interesting or gripping or effective is the feeling that somebody…was living it; somebody was alert and alive and passionate in some way. And the way you get into that state is by being in unfamiliar territory."
And it was so fun to read your responses to the cards you pulled. I've started using my Oblique Strategies deck in a similar way—a kind of divinatory technique to help me push back whatever's stalling me in a project. I wrote a bit about it here…specifically drawing 3 cards (to guide the start, middle, and end of a project), but I want to try doing this as a daily practice too! https://www.personalcanon.com/p/oblique-strategies-for-starting-a
Thanks, Celine! And what a great piece — I love your idea of drawing a card each for starting / continuing / finishing. Are you still doing that?
Also love the Zizek! I wrote about his "note-taking = writing" approach a few years ago and I think about it often (https://masoncurrey.substack.com/p/slavoj-zizek-writing-advice).
I actually fell off the habit for the last month…this post inspired me to begin again! (It's hard to sustain a creative habit and be very consistent—but being kind of consistent seems to be just as fulfilling, honestly)
I love your Žižek post! And Cheryl Strayed quote too; it's such a good reminder that writing is, often, an unglamorous task of just pushing through. What Strayed said about surrendering to her own mediocrity and just finishing! the! book!—it's exactly the advice I need right now.
Oh I love love love this. Oblique Strategies have been a daily part of my life for years: I’m part of Morning Writing Club, which also meets weekdays on Zoom, and every morning, we begin our sessions with an Oblique Strategies card pull. My favorite: “Repetition is a form of change.” Second favorite: “Courage!”
Oh, what a cool way to start your AM Zoom! I love that. My favorite card at the moment is "Honor thy error as a hidden intention" (very Freudian, come to think of it).
How odd! That I should be confronted this morning with an answer to my query sent out to the clouds is (almost algorithmically) odd. I had asked myself yesterday morning before I took myself to a local Cafe- the closest being a McDonalds - How do I know I'm alive? Outside the doin' all the things, what proof do I have? My phone was off, even, no listening to inside my head anyway.
Rubin's book is a godsend! And now I have this, too!
Corrine — I love the idea of you asking deep questions about existence at your local McDonald's! And then getting a sort of answer via my newsletter. Hope the Oblique Strategies keep your queries flowing in fruitful directions.
Hey Mason! It was definitely an occasion where my sense of "loneliness" was brought into question. I live in suburbia where I am seeing forward as a regenerative suburban "gardener", a multidisciplinary renaissance person. It can get "lonely". Except...what does that really mean? Shifting perspective while staying in place is just too hard sometimes. I'm not typically a fast-food person. It's more about humaning.
The oblique strategies had me spend the day in silence and practicing Handel's The Messiah without singing, only with the rhythm. Made for a very interesting day!
Thank you for the perfect Monday morning boost! I am signing off so that I can check out the Oblique Strategies. Your time and insights are appreciated!
Thanks, Mary, glad this one gave you boost!
I love the phone app version of Oblique Strategies. And I forgot about it, so thanks for this great post to remind me.
Thank you for reminding me how much I love Eno... "Ambient 1: Music for Airports" is a favorite! Now I'll have to see if that documentary is still playing...
I could tell I would be obsessed with Oblique Strategies deck the moment you mentioned it. I am sure I've heard of it before (maybe through a marketing conference workshop last year--I won a deck of cards that might have been inspired by OS, I have to find the deck again and see). But I'm worried I'll try to use it too often to solve creative conundrums. How often is too often to look outside for inspiration? It's just something I'll have to work out, I guess.
I really related to Brian Eno's frustration and the feeling that he didn't know what he was doing. I feel that way often working on my current WIP. It feels like crap so much of the time, but I don't have any choice to keep going at it. There's something to be said for reaching beyond what you think you're good at, in hopes of achieving a greater vision. It's rough, but worth it.
I drew "water" when I clicked on the web portal for Oblique Strategies just now. Like you, I'm in southern California and it reminded me that I need to put water in the pool today. Also, it reminds me that I need to go with the flow, detach from outcomes, embrace the moment instead of fighting against it.
Thanks for such a thought provoking post!
"not building a wall but making a brick"
Feels like a perfect prompt for a first comment here, although instead of building walls, my bricks are best for building bridges. The brick is the trace, the single comment, the first step we take in building relationships with people. And if it's a wall that they add up to, it's the wall that holds in the earth, the rich hummus (not the food, but the soil) that will nurture all the growth we want to achieve. The brick is a step towards the person. The person is part of a community. The community is what enriches us, feeds us, and helps us to grow. A wall doesn't have to separate, it can also contain. I love this concept and may, just may, have to try the same for my newsletter this week. Thanks - this is wonderful.
This is such a good idea! Funnily enough, just a couple of weeks ago I made myself an Oblique Strategies randomiser in Notion - more as a procrastination task than anything else, though I did think it might help me get unstuck on a few things. I need to go and use it.
A highly entertaining news letter. I was lucky enough to go to the premier of Eno’s documentary film at the Barbican. He talked about his Oblique Strategies and how he and Bowie used them to write songs in Berlin. Sometimes resulting in an interesting clash of results. I have my own set by my Mac. Let me take a look now… Mmmm it says decorate decorate. I see it as a potential clothes shop trip. I need a new winter jacket. I keep nicking my sons!
"How one feels when making something actually says very little about the quality of what one is making." Truer words were never spoken, Mason! Thanks so much for this reminder and for your beautiful newsletter. It fills me with joy and inspiration reading it every other Monday. My oblique strategy for today is "Ask people to work against their better judgement." Let's see how that manifests throughtout the day. Thanks again and looking forward to your next newsletter!
I got a deck of Oblique Strategies when I was 20, in 1977-78, I think. I love them and they’re dog-eared. I was delighted to find the web version, because you never know when you may need to draw some random direction! My one for you today is: “What is the Reality of the Situation?” Indeed!