Hi, welcome to Renunciant Writings. I’m Otto. Or, as my username and artist name put it, Otto the Renunciant. A bit intense sounding. But I assure you it’s not quite as severe as you might think — I don’t live alone on the top of a mountain in the woods with nothing but a robe and an alms bowl, although I do live close to the top of a mountain in the woods, albeit with quite a lot of modern pleasures and far too many clothes (I have really been noticing that lately). I append “the Renunciant” to my name as something both aspirational and representative of my attitude towards the world: aspirational in that my goal is to renounce everything that is non-essential, and representative in that I have cultivated an internal attitude of renunciation towards the world, in the sense that I don’t value things in the same way I used to. I’m not a monk, I’m not enlightened, and I still have a lot of work to do. But I hope that by working and writing under this name, I’ll come closer to walking in the footsteps of the ideal Otto the Renunciant.
Also, I just think it sounds cool. So there’s that.
Anyway, what are you going to find here? This is just the beginning of this Substack, so I don’t want to set anything too much in stone, as I’d prefer to let it evolve naturally instead. Some topics, like Dhamma practice, will be a mainstay of this Substack, but this isn’t by any means a “Buddhist” Substack. If I had to use a single word to describe what I’ll be doing here, it would be “philosophy” — some of it will be Eastern, some will be analytic, and some will be continental. And I use that term very broadly, so that it encompasses math, politics and current events, and even music (itself, not just discussion about music). In case that last part wasn’t clear: I’ll be posting my music here as I release it, and I view music as a type of non-verbal philosophizing, always asking the question “what should a piece of music sound like?” and answering with sounds.
I hope you find something of use in what I post here, and don’t hesitate to reach out to me to discuss or push back against anything I say. I’m more than happy to engage in discussions.
Thanks for being here, and well wishes to you.
