What a valuable distinction, thanks for the post. It reminds me of the Goethe quote, "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." I live a modest life in Paris as a writer, and find that employing agency in my day-to-day quest to write well and be attentive to existence is far more fulfilling than pursuing literary "ambition," which can come and go ... perhaps we only have the right to our agency, not to the fruits of our agency?
I was always teaching ambition as an important part of development but agency resonates so much better. Great piece 👏
What a valuable distinction, thanks for the post. It reminds me of the Goethe quote, "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." I live a modest life in Paris as a writer, and find that employing agency in my day-to-day quest to write well and be attentive to existence is far more fulfilling than pursuing literary "ambition," which can come and go ... perhaps we only have the right to our agency, not to the fruits of our agency?