James B. Quirk

James Benjamin Quirk

I’m a scientist with a PhD in Applied Physics from Imperial College London (recipient of Materials Centenary Prize) and senior editor working in education, with a particular speciality in assessment.

Don’t get started. Remember the fire.

The fire burns inside you. Don’t cover it up. Let it burn through you till you burn clearly.

James Benjamin Quirk

Mar 6, 2022

2 min read

Be whole human

What wisdom means for you can’t be found in a cookie-cutter ensemble of commonplace ideas. It’s enmeshed in your life.

James Benjamin Quirk

Mar 6, 2022

2 min read

7 challenging questions to ask yourself that will cut life down to the bone

Perhaps our everyday lives are simply ways for us to ignore difficult questions.

James Benjamin Quirk

Mar 6, 2022

8 min read

Catching the through-line

We are the tide and the through-line threads us like a hauler’s fishing nets. Onwards it pulls through the silt, the sludge and the sea. Just to hold it is to roil in the history of the water.

James Benjamin Quirk

Mar 6, 2022

2 min read

In praise of paradox

We can’t escape mystery because it constitutes part of our experience of a world that we do not entirely understand. Moreover, it may be basic to the world itself.

James Benjamin Quirk

Mar 6, 2022

3 min read

Silent starlight — what you are

The universe is not one but whole – an awakened symphony.

James Benjamin Quirk

Mar 6, 2022

2 min read

Not mindfulness; crescendo

In situations that can’t be neatly packaged, commodified or programmed, we can’t lean on easy guidance. Life is one of those situations.

James Benjamin Quirk

Mar 6, 2022

4 min read

Nobody is going to save you: self-help & the existential undercut

Self-help is a form of positively-directed ignorance.

James Benjamin Quirk

Mar 6, 2022

3 min read