Eric Cunningham
@cunninghamej.bsky.social
Spirit/Matter on Substack
ERICJCUNNINGHAM.SUBSTACK.COM
ERICJCUNNINGHAM.SUBSTACK.COM
I am thinking a lot recently about the power of “slow” things. Things that “take time.”
➡️ Meditation
➡️ Research
➡️ Democratic process
➡️ In depth writing
➡️ Relationship building
What are some of your favorite slow things?
➡️ Meditation
➡️ Research
➡️ Democratic process
➡️ In depth writing
➡️ Relationship building
What are some of your favorite slow things?
September 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I am thinking a lot recently about the power of “slow” things. Things that “take time.”
➡️ Meditation
➡️ Research
➡️ Democratic process
➡️ In depth writing
➡️ Relationship building
What are some of your favorite slow things?
➡️ Meditation
➡️ Research
➡️ Democratic process
➡️ In depth writing
➡️ Relationship building
What are some of your favorite slow things?
The social, political, and cultural fissures and fractures of our current moment, call not for more rhetorical finger pointing, but for ATTENTION to—and deep critical analysis of—the “conflict entrepreneurship” that has captured much of the US and global political economy.
Link below 👇🏻
Link below 👇🏻
September 16, 2025 at 10:17 PM
The social, political, and cultural fissures and fractures of our current moment, call not for more rhetorical finger pointing, but for ATTENTION to—and deep critical analysis of—the “conflict entrepreneurship” that has captured much of the US and global political economy.
Link below 👇🏻
Link below 👇🏻
In 2008, I joined residents of Otaki, a mountain village in Japan's Nagano prefecture, for a community cooking class that was about much more than food.
September 10, 2025 at 7:50 AM
In 2008, I joined residents of Otaki, a mountain village in Japan's Nagano prefecture, for a community cooking class that was about much more than food.
"When we fully accept the reality of death, our life reveals itself as a beautiful creative expression."
#death #life #beauty #expression #creativity
#death #life #beauty #expression #creativity
August 29, 2025 at 12:00 AM
"When we fully accept the reality of death, our life reveals itself as a beautiful creative expression."
#death #life #beauty #expression #creativity
#death #life #beauty #expression #creativity
Sometimes divine revelation comes in the most unexpected forms.
In early sobriety, overwhelmed by raw emotions and a marriage in upheaval, I found myself desperate in a parking garage.
In early sobriety, overwhelmed by raw emotions and a marriage in upheaval, I found myself desperate in a parking garage.
August 21, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Sometimes divine revelation comes in the most unexpected forms.
In early sobriety, overwhelmed by raw emotions and a marriage in upheaval, I found myself desperate in a parking garage.
In early sobriety, overwhelmed by raw emotions and a marriage in upheaval, I found myself desperate in a parking garage.
Souls come to earth to experience and evolve.
August 19, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Souls come to earth to experience and evolve.
Your anxiety, your spiritual seeking, your need for connection—what if all of it has become raw material for capital accumulation? What if your productivity guilt isn't just personal, but part of capitalism's psychological architecture?
August 5, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Your anxiety, your spiritual seeking, your need for connection—what if all of it has become raw material for capital accumulation? What if your productivity guilt isn't just personal, but part of capitalism's psychological architecture?
The Dissolving Self
Your ego isn't who you are - it's your mind's habit of resisting life as it unfolds. This short essay considers how letting go of personal preferences opens us up to genuine connection and better work in the service of others.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
Your ego isn't who you are - it's your mind's habit of resisting life as it unfolds. This short essay considers how letting go of personal preferences opens us up to genuine connection and better work in the service of others.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
July 11, 2025 at 8:20 AM
The Dissolving Self
Your ego isn't who you are - it's your mind's habit of resisting life as it unfolds. This short essay considers how letting go of personal preferences opens us up to genuine connection and better work in the service of others.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
Your ego isn't who you are - it's your mind's habit of resisting life as it unfolds. This short essay considers how letting go of personal preferences opens us up to genuine connection and better work in the service of others.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
That which is impermanent attracts compassion, that which is not provides wisdom.
-Stephen Levine
-Stephen Levine
June 30, 2025 at 7:48 AM
That which is impermanent attracts compassion, that which is not provides wisdom.
-Stephen Levine
-Stephen Levine
Bristlecone pines survive for thousands of years not by growing fast, but by growing intentionally - stripping back to what's essential and collaborating with time instead of fighting it.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
Dead Wood, Living Bark
Finding aliveness in a world of dust
open.substack.com
June 24, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Bristlecone pines survive for thousands of years not by growing fast, but by growing intentionally - stripping back to what's essential and collaborating with time instead of fighting it.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
A conversation with an archaeology professor reshaped my views of human culture and revealed that anthropology isn't just about the study of cultures—it's about expanding our understandings of the ways humans are woven into the living world. open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
Uncharted Connections
Anthropological inquiry, relationality, and the expanding mind
open.substack.com
June 21, 2025 at 2:13 AM
A conversation with an archaeology professor reshaped my views of human culture and revealed that anthropology isn't just about the study of cultures—it's about expanding our understandings of the ways humans are woven into the living world. open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
This is the first in a series that explores how capitalism's reach has extended beyond land and resources into the realm of human consciousness itself.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
June 18, 2025 at 3:56 PM
This is the first in a series that explores how capitalism's reach has extended beyond land and resources into the realm of human consciousness itself.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
An account of a walk into the forests of the Seto River where nature meets humanity in ways that question who forests belong to and how important first-hand experiences of them are.
Seto-gawa (瀬戸川)
little known jewel of the Kiso Valley
open.substack.com
June 14, 2025 at 1:47 AM
An account of a walk into the forests of the Seto River where nature meets humanity in ways that question who forests belong to and how important first-hand experiences of them are.
J. P. Hill points to the relationality of objects as burning Waymos are de-commodified and transformed into the language of the unheard.
www.jphilll.com/p/i-dont-mou...
www.jphilll.com/p/i-dont-mou...
I don’t mourn robot cars
Waymo has suspended service in Los Angeles after multiple instances of its autonomous cars being set on fire as protests and police violence rock the city.
www.jphilll.com
June 11, 2025 at 8:07 PM
J. P. Hill points to the relationality of objects as burning Waymos are de-commodified and transformed into the language of the unheard.
www.jphilll.com/p/i-dont-mou...
www.jphilll.com/p/i-dont-mou...
Deployments of police and military force against the citizenry should prompt questions about the logics and aims of political-economic-social systems.
June 11, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Deployments of police and military force against the citizenry should prompt questions about the logics and aims of political-economic-social systems.
The Dude Abides
How can "The Dude" help us to achieve peace and serenity in both our inner and outer worlds? Check out my latest essay to find out.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
How can "The Dude" help us to achieve peace and serenity in both our inner and outer worlds? Check out my latest essay to find out.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
The Dude Abides
On inner peace and making the world less shitty
open.substack.com
June 6, 2025 at 10:38 PM
The Dude Abides
How can "The Dude" help us to achieve peace and serenity in both our inner and outer worlds? Check out my latest essay to find out.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
How can "The Dude" help us to achieve peace and serenity in both our inner and outer worlds? Check out my latest essay to find out.
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
At the base of Japan's sacred Mount Ontake, a small village community finds stability and guidance through their relationships with the mountain, persisting through intimate practices of care
Mountains and Rivers Never Stay the Same
Community Maintenance, Sacred Connection, and Ecological Care in a Japanese Mountain Village
open.substack.com
June 5, 2025 at 8:43 PM
At the base of Japan's sacred Mount Ontake, a small village community finds stability and guidance through their relationships with the mountain, persisting through intimate practices of care
"I have come to realize how arbitrary considerations of natural beauty can be--how removed from the physical manifestations of the natural world itself."
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
Ugui River 鯎川
on being in landscape
open.substack.com
June 2, 2025 at 10:57 PM
"I have come to realize how arbitrary considerations of natural beauty can be--how removed from the physical manifestations of the natural world itself."
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
We’re on earth to learn and grow. Don’t take things too seriously and don’t beat yourself up.
www.instagram.com/reel/DKQgKpB...
www.instagram.com/reel/DKQgKpB...
Login • Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
www.instagram.com
May 30, 2025 at 3:53 AM
We’re on earth to learn and grow. Don’t take things too seriously and don’t beat yourself up.
www.instagram.com/reel/DKQgKpB...
www.instagram.com/reel/DKQgKpB...
“The valley is steep and sudden, giving me the sense that it wasn't carved gradually, but rather fell, like a failed souffle. I spot one waterfall and then another, and another, and another--there's four or five in the valley.”
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
Valley of waterfalls
Mt. Ontake's Kurozawa route
open.substack.com
May 23, 2025 at 12:02 AM
“The valley is steep and sudden, giving me the sense that it wasn't carved gradually, but rather fell, like a failed souffle. I spot one waterfall and then another, and another, and another--there's four or five in the valley.”
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
open.substack.com/pub/ericjcun...
“Here people could gaze up at the form of a great mountain that would prevail amidst the endless changes of the human world.” —Shimazaki Toson
Sawadotouge 沢渡峠
A walk to the Sawado Pass
open.substack.com
May 19, 2025 at 8:27 PM
“Here people could gaze up at the form of a great mountain that would prevail amidst the endless changes of the human world.” —Shimazaki Toson
“How then are we to think about resiliency? Do we promote it, or actively strive against it? Well, it all depends on which “we” one is talking about. Defining “we” has always been a political act, which brings me to my topic: the politics of resiliency.”
substack.com/@cunninghame...
substack.com/@cunninghame...
The Politics of Resiliency
This post was originally published on May 30, 2008
substack.com
May 16, 2025 at 8:25 AM
“How then are we to think about resiliency? Do we promote it, or actively strive against it? Well, it all depends on which “we” one is talking about. Defining “we” has always been a political act, which brings me to my topic: the politics of resiliency.”
substack.com/@cunninghame...
substack.com/@cunninghame...
Check out my thoughts on mindful awareness and our current attention economy 👇🏻
www.threads.com/@cunninghame...
www.threads.com/@cunninghame...
Eric J Cunningham (@cunninghamej) on Threads
"In a world of endless distraction, perhaps the most radical act available to us is to pause, breathe, and be truly attentive to our being and our being in the world."
Check out my essay "Attention, ...
www.threads.com
May 14, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Check out my thoughts on mindful awareness and our current attention economy 👇🏻
www.threads.com/@cunninghame...
www.threads.com/@cunninghame...