Zettelcast

Camden speaks with his brothers, Kelly and Kipton, to swap useful tools, tips, and tricks. Telescoping magnetic grabber Trend Easy Scribe Coravin wine preserving system Grab opener Milwaukee plunge track saw Govee table lamp D-Tape Laser distance meter

Camden speaks with Erica Bucey, his wife, to discuss being more thoughtful about what they read individually as well as cultivating reading throughout their family. They discuss how to find good suggestions for worthy titles and ideas for a family reading plan. -- Connect: Website: https://camden.bucey.org Twitter: @camdenbucey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camdenbucey YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/camdenbucey Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sixstring Subscribe to my newsletter at https://camdenbucey.ck.page/68331bc4e2

It is challenging to write and even more so to write lengthy works based on many sources. For me, a significant part of the challenge involves my assumptions about how such works are produced. I assume the writer must work out all (or most) of the ideas in his mind before he begins to write. Only then can he translate his formed thoughts and mostly finished arguments to the page. In this understanding, thinking happens and then writing emerges as the product of thought. In one of my favorite books, Sönke Ahrens conveyed Richard Feynman’s adamance that writing is the thinking process. To Feynman, his notebooks were not merely records or even the product of his thinking process, they were his thinking (Ahrens, How to Take Smart Notes, 95). I agree with that sentiment. Certainly writing is not the only portion of the thought process, but it surely is part of it. Something happens when we are forced to write complete thoughts. It is much more than a change in medium—it is a creation and formation. Writing is not the product of thought. The act of writing is also an act of thinking. If this is true, how impoverished must we be if we are not actively writing most days? We’re not thinking! But it is also stressful to feel that we should write while at the same time thinking that writing is a elaborate formal undertaking. I do not write as often as I think I should because I set the bar so high for what actually qualifies as “writing.” In moments like these, it is tempting to look for a silver bullet. “Perhaps,” I speculate, “the right tool or method will ‘fix’ the problem.” But what I really need is a change in mindset coupled with discipline. Ultimately, the writer needs to take up pen or keyboard and simply write (and therefore think). Our environment and daily habits can either facilitate or hinder this discipline. Zettelkästen and Obsidian have helped me to write more often. But at the end of the day, I still need to take the initiative to think by writing. I need to wrestle to translate and transmute what is in my head into words that may be shared to my future self and to others. Join me and take a moment today to “think” by converting your emerging thoughts into words. -- Connect: Website: https://camden.bucey.org Twitter: @camdenbucey LinkedIn YouTube Subscribe to my newsletter at https://camdenbucey.ck.page/68331bc4e2

Today I welcome my friend, Charles Williams, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Corvallis, Oregon. Charles was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, where he taught high school for several years before attending seminary in Philadelphia, where I got to know him a bit. In 2016, he was ordained as a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He served as an associate pastor at Bethel OPC in Wheaton, Illinois not too far from me. In November 2020, he accepted a call to Westminster OPC in Corvallis. Charles loves church history, film, good music, and all sorts of weird stuff. I always enjoy speaking with him, and I’m delighted to share this conversation with you. Links Westminster OPC, Corvallis Dune IMDB Denis Villeneuve Bladerunner 2049 Arrival Incendies Enemy Prisoners Visit Westminster OPC online at wpcorvallis.org. Check out all the links in the episode description. And be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter for new essays, updates, and info on new podcast episodes. You’ll find it all at camden.bucey.org.

It is Thanksgiving, and just a few days ago I returned from my annual hunting trip to southern Illinois. I head down there a few times per year, but the weekend before Thanksgiving is the opening of firearm deer season.  This time of year, I think quite a bit of family heritage, legacy, and the places where we live. This calls to mind the biblical themes of the people of God, covenant, and inheritance. But these are also themes developed in the works of writers such as Wendell Berry and Aldo Leopold.  In this episode I contemplate what it means to participate in and work to maintain a multi-generational legacy on the land. Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

This is an audio venue for explore various ideas I encounter. I intend to do this by sharing ideas that I have captured and developed within my personal zettelkasten. But I also intend to host discussions with others. I am a man of wide and varied interests. Some may characterize me as a dilettante. I think the simplest way to say it is that I am extremely curious, and when I encounter something intriguing and mysterious, I want to figure it out—especially if learning about that thing might have utility for me. Not only do I wish to explore ideas, but I also wish to learn about disciplines—skillful practices that might be integrated into other practices. This can no doubt be entertaining at times, but my larger purpose is to learn and improve in service of a fruitful life. I’m thinking of that specifically in light of Genesis 1:28, “… And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.‘’” This is a line of thought I am currently developing in my zettelkasten and as that matures, I plan to pick it up here. Subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already. Follow me on Twitter @camdenbucey, and send me your thoughts and ideas for the program. There is a contact form at http://camden.bucey.org/contact. I look forward to hearing from you as we seek to learn together.