Articles by Maria Popova | Films For Action

A Gentle Corrective for the Epidemic of Identity Politics Turning Us on Each Other and on Ourselves

Maria Popova · “So many people are frightened by the wonder of their own presence. They are dying to tie themselves into a system, a role, or to an image, or to a predetermined identity that other people have actually settled on for them.”

How to Love: Legendary Zen Buddhist Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on Mastering the Art of "Interbeing"

Maria Popova · “To love without knowing how to love wounds the person we love.”

An Obscure German Philosopher's Timely 1948 Manifesto for Reclaiming Our Human Dignity in a Culture of Workaholism

Maria Popova · “Leisure lives on affirmation. It is not the same as the absence of activity … or even as an inner quiet. It is rather like the stillness in the conversation of lovers, which is fed by their oneness.”

The Oldest Living Things in the World: A Decade-Long Photographic Masterpiece at the Intersection of Art, Science, and Philosophy

Maria Popova · What a 13,000-year-old eucalyptus tree reveals about the meaning of human life.

How to Criticize with Kindness: Philosopher Daniel Dennett on the Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently

Maria Popova · “Just how charitable are you supposed to be when criticizing the views of an opponent?”

Buddhist Economics: How to Stop Prioritizing Consumption Over People and Creativity

Maria Popova · “Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure.”

The Baloney Detection Kit: Carl Sagan's Rules for Bullshit-Busting and Critical Thinking

Maria Popova · Necessary cognitive fortification against propaganda, pseudoscience, and general falsehood. Carl Sagan was many things — a

How To Be a Nonconformist: 22 Irreverent Illustrated Steps to Counterculture Cred from 1968

Maria Popova · “Avoid socks. They are a fatal giveaway of a phony nonconformist.” “Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?,” James Thurber asked in the caption to a 1958 New Yorker cartoon depicting a woman fed up with her artist...