Shimmering Beneath is
a new take on a website about philosophy and life. That uses philosophy for the sake of life. To make life better, richer, and more joyful.
It is based on the core belief that ideas should be interesting, and that in being so they can draw you in and become deeply meaningful. The experience of interest elevates and expands them and lets them take their proper place within life. Not as abstract commentary or esoteric musings, but as fuel and guidance for your human JOURNEY towards better life—the one journey we all share. Ideas helping us imagine our way towards better life.
Interesting and meaningful ideas
- Expand through creativity and imagination
- Come to life through narrative storytelling
- Transform from concept into feeling through drama and style
- Are stated briefly and sectioned off into digestible chunks
- Emphasize depth and re-readability
- Can be experienced in different ways: as text, audio, video, and short quotes
Because
philosophy shouldn’t always be wading through thirty pages of dry prose looking for a few key bits of knowledge, depending on a PhD’s worth of information to understand three thousand years of unexplained context, or finding yourself somewhere so conceptual and bewildering that you need cliff notes before you can even start to read. Philosophy should be part of life, made by and for life, for that unfailing purpose of living a better, richer, life. To that end it should be readable and interesting.
And digital content deserves to be more than momentary dopamine hits pulling you away from life. The things you spend your time on should add something to your life. They should be building blocks towards better life.
Our goal
is to transform reading and thinking into a new experience that takes its ques from literature and modern digital content; combining engagement and depth. The result is writings that can foster joy, thoughtfulness, creativity, and ultimately make your world more magical. That, by tending to what is just below the surface, can foster the sprout of a garden in your mind that grows on up towards joy. Just as a plant seeks the sun. The essence of the JOURNEY towards joy we have perhaps forgotten to take.
I want to provide the beginnings of a tool to help restore magic and beauty to a world that is lacking in them.
How to Explore
Shimmering Beneath? Simply begin with whatever strikes your fancy. The website is nonlinear, so please feel free to look around (as you already have, coming here). And to follow the yarn of thought affixed to each post.
You can also explore by following the overlapping paths of our different authors—who each have their own style, viewpoint, and proclivities. There is no one perspective holding the truth, but each can be learned from. I myself find The Pen and The Wanderer to be the most amusing.
If a topic is what interests you, look no further than our Threads—a buffet of different conceptions to be explored from a variety of perspectives.
And perhaps the simplest and most obvious: find a foothold for thought amidst our Introductions.
In sum,
welcome to Shimmering Beneath, a place for thinking and a place for magic—for aiding you on your journey towards better life.
This is an ongoing story, a shattered mirror of the world designed to germinate new thoughts in your mind that can help you flourish. To help grow a garden in your mind, and so make your life a better place to be.
All of this will be interesting, enthralling, and ultimately done for life.
And do not forget to subscribe and check back regularly: for new weavings and new accompaniments to your journey as this place grows.
About the Author
George Hahn-Sittig is a Writer, poet, and thinker who focuses on imagining, understanding and elevating the world in new ways. Alongside his main work at ShimmeringBeneath.com, he writes poetry and political philosophy. Having graduated from St. Olaf College in 2021, with a year abroad studying at Oxford, he is currently working on his projects from his home town of Normal, IL.
Contact
For questions, comments, inquiries and potential collaborations:
Email: George.hahn-sittig(at)shimmeringbeneath(dot)com
or for more direct and speedy communication, Instagram DMs (@shimmering.beneath) are available.
