Over a century into the age of aviation, there’s a modern-day debate among frequent flyers you’ve likely heard (or maybe even argued): Which seat is better on an airplane, window or aisle? There are innumerable articles, videos, and debates over “window vs. aisle” online. Most take a side, offer a rational argument, and break the decision down into a thought-out list of pros and cons.
The year is 2026, and we’re wading deeper into the technological age. It’s time we recognize something obvious but rarely said: if we take our tech as it comes — out of the box, from the app store, or at sign-up — it will relentlessly try to hijack our awareness. Most phones, computers, TV’s, websites, and apps today are intentionally designed to hook and keep our attention.
Perhaps three times in the past five years, I’ve heard someone speak in a way that hits me as truly profound, yet half goes over my head. I consider this half-grasped, resonant feeling the sweet spot. A signal that what is being communicated is both something I need to hear and lies at the edge of what I can conceptually grasp. The feeling is the signal of signals: if I come to understand this, I…
By Ethan Maurice | December 27, 2025 A few months after releasing 17 Ideas That Changed My Life , I felt compelled to sit down and talk through the ideas one night. From a loose exploration of each of the 17 ideas, a deep, podcast-like reflection resulted in a single take: Any ideas particularly resonate with you? Have an idea you see through or live by that you’d add to your own collection of…
Holy moly, am I happy to make the introduction: 17 Ideas That Changed My Life is out, live, and available printed for purchase (and free to download ). A sort of “philosophical coffee table book,” it’s a photo-heavy homage and collection of the most useful and profound ideas I’ve found and integrated into my lens on life over a decade of exploring ideas (traveling, reading hundreds of books, deep…
There are times in life where things are so beautiful and electrically good you can’t even believe they’re happening. My friends Matthew and Nicolette, brilliant humans, DJs, and the creators and curators of Between2Clouds, are better at manifesting such moments than any humans I have ever met.
Back in March in the midst of a near-magic trip cruising around on scooters, watching sunsets, and exploring Mexico’s Pacific Coast, I sat up on the roof of this Mexican mansion one night to connect with my friend Peter for a podcast-style interview on his wellness cross-training platform Empowermend.
One of the coolest things about writing about my interests on the internet and hosting an annual WONDER WANDER is a spectacular increase in my luck surface area, or as I like to call it: surface area for serendipity. Back in November, fellow camera-wielding friend and wonderwanderer Kevin sent me an out-of-the-blue text message. Could Richard, a legally-blind-totally-tapped-into-it sound healer we…
Once a year, I host ‘WONDER WANDER,’ a multi-day gathering of creatives, adventurers, and all other sorts of fascinated-fascinating humans out in nature. We share, we laugh, we hike, we stargaze, we philosophize, we dive deep, and relish in this crazy experience of being with one another. WONDER WANDER 2024, was the 5th go at throwing this grand "experiential potluck," built around a dozen or so…
I just released YESMAN INTERVIEW — a live interview I did with the Yesman himself at this year’s (utterly magnificent) Festival of Yes. Alex, the Yesman, is a great friend and easily one of the most rad, vibrant, ringing-with-life humans I have ever met. It was a grand pleasure to discuss and share the power, usefulness, and philosophy of “yes” with him, a central pillar to the dude’s infectiously…
As a creative, if you ask me, one of the best things that happened last year was a book. The book is a collection of observations on creativity from music producer Rick Rubin. Rick has made brilliant albums with the widest range of the biggest musicians for nearly half a century. The Creative Act: A Way of Being offers Rick Rubin’s remarkable view on creativity and reads not unlike the Tao Te…
A haiku about living now.
This past year was a year of hard work at home peppered with experiences beautiful, eye-opening, and totally transcendent. While the bulk of my year was spent running a real estate photography business — work I find flowy, creative, and interesting — it was largely ventures away from it that shaped me. Some of the most profound internal shifts included a deeper interest in creative collaboration,…
To be a mystic one need not add anything to their experience, but subtract. A mystic simply sticks with and perceives the basics of reality, because the basic of reality are wildly miraculous. A few examples: * We live on a tiny planet floating in the endless void of space. * Time is an illusion made by measuring spins of the earth and laps around the sun. The past is a memory, the future a dream,…
The Sunday after WONDER WANDER 2023, magic happened at sunset on the shores of a river running the sonoran desert. A merry band of creatives ran four hundred feet of extension cord from the hybrid battery of a Prius to a secluded cove to record my buddy Matthew (also known as 2dreamagain and the brilliant groove man behind Between2Clouds) DJing a dreamy house music set as we captured the scene on…
A short documentary of WONDER WANDER 2023 by Kevin Ufnal. Once a year, I host ‘WONDER WANDER,’ an experiential potluck with creatives, adventurers, and all other sorts of fascinated-fascinating humans out in nature. We share, we laugh, we hike, we stargaze, we philosophize, we dive deep, and relish in this crazy experience of being with one another. WONDER WANDER 2023 took place September 15th -…
I recently had the grand privilege of speaking on Cosmic Consciousness and the inherent oneness of all things through an astronomical lens at the Festival of Yes. Wandering through my near-death experience at sixteen, insights into the psychological growth process from Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death, the formation of the universe, wise words from Ed Abbey, Alan Watts, Carl Sagan, and John…
Fellow riders on spaceship Earth, May I introduce to you the ‘In This Together’ Bumper Sticker — a symbolic reminder that we are literally in this together, residing on a tiny blue-green ball of life miraculously afloat in the void of space. One night, in a flash of inspiration, the whole thing: idea, phrase, and image, just struck me.
In 2021, I created the “Needlestack”, a simple grassroots solution to making the browse the web by best. Playing on the metaphor of “finding a needle in a haystack,” the Needlestack was a list of links to what I personally felt were the best pages on the entire internet. The idea was to make my Needlestack, encourage others to make their own, and to link them together — weaving a navigable web of…
Here to remember he sits at the sun worn table among rock and shrub and sky. The matters and stories back home dry and crack in the afternoon kiln of ceaseless alabaster sunlight.