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# Altar
- URL: https://www.jamesreeves.co/altar/
- Published: 2024-03-12T21:02:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-15T03:48:27.000Z
- Description: I share this because I'm fascinated by the totems and rituals of others.
- Author: James A. Reeves
- Tags: Notebook

The time changed yesterday and nefarious forces are afoot, delivering personal setbacks, professional disappointments, and hard forks in the road. Also, a favorite character on a TV show died (if you're watching *Tokyo Vice*, then you know) and my speakers refuse to connect to my device. In times like these, I’m grateful for my little altar, where I practice my meditations each morning and night (except Saturdays). “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” wrote [Pascal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise%5FPascal?ref=jamesreeves.co) back in 1654\. And it remains a struggle. I fidget and sigh and glance greedily at the clock. But they say there’s no such thing as good meditation or bad meditation; there's only meditation. The same might apply to running, but I’m not sure if it can be said for writing and design.

Inventory of my altar:

1) a patch of [fake IKEAN grass](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/fejka-artificial-potted-plant-with-pot-indoor-outdoor-grass-10508456/?ref=jamesreeves.co) because synthetic nature tickles some pleasure center I can’t quite describe (although [I’ve tried](https://atlasminor.com/artificial/?ref=jamesreeves.co)). I find it very reassuring.

2) a small brass Buddha that came from god only knows. I found it rattling around a cardboard box seven years ago when moving from New Orleans.

3) a [Charity Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charity%5FIsland%5F%28Michigan%29?ref=jamesreeves.co) “round stone” that delighted my grandfather, who enjoyed telling long geological stories while we stood in the cold by Saginaw Bay.

4) a chess piece my father carved after one went missing in Wisconsin because chess was serious business for us while we waited for a lung.

5) a [Garry Winogrand](https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/garry-winogrand?all/all/all/all/0&ref=jamesreeves.co) photo that captures the joyful lunatic energy I’d like to bring to the [new thing](https://atlasminor.com/starting-a-new-big-thing/?ref=jamesreeves.co) I’m writing.

6) a Glade lemon + bergamot mist diffuser that smells like a fancy hotel lobby. Available for $12 at Target.

7) a handy visual timer purchased after reading [Jack Cheng’s newsletter](https://www.jackcheng.com/sunday/413-my-daily-routine-january-2024/?ref=jamesreeves.co). (I spent ages dithering between Fern Green and Pale Shale before choosing the green because it matches my fake grass.)

I share this because I'm fascinated by the totems and rituals of others. At my Thursday night philosophy book club, there’s a gentle old Catholic who likes to say, “God can’t give us happiness, so he gives us habit.”