Riva Tez is one of the freest writers I know. It’s as if the boundaries of conventional thinking don’t apply to her. She’s allergic to dogma and passionate about questioning the taboos of our time, and her obsessive research gene has given her a knack for stumbling upon forgotten and under-explored ideas.

She’s a singular human being. Part of her brilliance is the way she combines her love for Rilke’s poetry with an interest in philosophy, theology, and consciousness. In all three areas, she goes right after dogma — and by asking the questions that only she can ask, she finds the answers that only she can find.

In a world of people who are obsessed with optimization, Riva is passionately unoptimized; in a culture of people who are obsessed with the news, Riva has cut out almost all the contemporary noise from Netflix to the New York Times.

If you feel constrained in your writing or thinking, this episode is for you. An hour with Riva will free you from the trappings of your mind, unleash your creative spirit, and lift your head up to a divine calling.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00:00 Intro
0:00:30 Rilke
0:06:00 Philosophy
0:07:50 Creativity recession
0:09:00 Protectionism
0:14:00 Netflix
0:15:25 Reading
0:19:50 Conspiracies
0:24:50 Structuring life
0:26:30 Muses
0:28:00 Creative process
0:29:30 Thinking clearly
0:34:00 Church of graphs
0:35:30 Occam's Razor
0:36:40 Cultivating taste
0:38:00 Painting
0:42:00 Drugs
0:43:30 Essay
0:48:00 Short Film
0:53:00 Curiosity
0:57:40 Reading
0:59:15 Consciousness
1:03:00 STEM
1:06:20 Handwriting
1:11:40 Beauty
1:14:20 Instanbul
1:16:00 Maximalism
1:17:20 JP Morgan
1:19:00 America history
1:21:15 Education

SPEAKER LINKS:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rivatez
Website: https://www.hardtowrite.com
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FECyn_sGk4M

WRITE OF PASSAGE:
Want to learn more about the next class Write of Passage?
Click here: https://take.writeofpassage.school/writing-sprints

PODCAST LINKS:
Website: https://writeofpassage.school/how-i-write/
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv

ABOUT THE HOST:
I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible.