Philosophical Exercises

In February 2026, I did my best to learn the True Names of all manner of things. With this admittedly strange phrase, I am referring to an exercise inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. In this story, a master wizard shows the main character a humble little plant and says: “ When you know the fourfoil in all its seasons root and leaf and flower, by sight and scent and seed, then you may learn its true name ”. This is how it’s done: you begin by learning the (conventional) name of something, before perfecting your attunement to it through careful observation across different contexts. Birds, insects, plants, and even the local electrical grid: I did my utmost to come to know what I was looking at . Two illustrations from Erbario,  a 15th-century Herbal from Northern Italy I feel as though my life has undergone a sharp and deep transformation. On paper, much is the same, I still go on those long daily walks that one might call mental health walks . But the expe...