About The Living Dark
Exploring consciousness, creativity, the weird, and the metacrisis of modern life.
This is a journal of creative, spiritual, and cultural inquiry. I publish essays, reflections, and exploratory pieces-in-progress that draw on nondual reflection, weird fiction and cosmic horror, philosophy and religious thought, and the lived textures of writing and making art in a noisy, collapsing world.
If I had to describe the reader I imagine while writing here, it would be someone who has already read widely, seen broadly, and thought deeply—the three elements making up the slogan of my former long-running blog, The Teeming Brain—and who now senses that intellectual understanding alone isn’t sufficient. Neither are aesthetic appreciation and philosophical highs.
Much of the material that later became my 2025 book Writing at the Wellspring: Tapping the Source of Your Inner Genius first took shape here, in conversation with readers and through sustained reflection over time. More books may come out of it.
Speaking of books, here are several that I have written and edited over the years.
What you’ll find here
The Living Dark unfolds across a set of recurring concerns:
Nonduality and Consciousness — Explorations of awakening, identity, and the nature of reality beyond the illusion of a separate self.
Creativity and the Daemon Muse — Reflections on writing, artistic calling, and the mysterious inner force that shapes and animates creative work.
Horror, the Weird, and the Imaginal — Encounters with the uncanny, the numinous, and the darkly revelatory dimensions of imagination and experience.
Culture, Technology, and Collapse — Reflections on a world in transition. Thoughts on the intersection of science, media, and institutions with crisis, transformation, and decline.
Reading and Reflections — Notes from a life of reading (books, articles, essays, ideas, and fragments).
I also share interviews, occasional piano performances (my own), and reflections from the vantage point of a writer, teacher, musician, and college administrator.
From time to time, outside or alongside this newsletter I engage in one-to-one dialogical work with writers and thinkers navigating difficult creative, philosophical, or spiritual terrain.
For an orientation, you can visit the Start Here page, which collects a selection of core essays.
What critics have said
Here are a few representative lines from the long conversation my work has had with readers and reviewers: “a thinking-man’s book of the macabre” (Publishers Weekly on Dark Awakenings); “a landmark collection” (Asimov’s Science Fiction on To Rouse Leviathan); “a lyrical meditation on what it means to create from the depths of the soul” (BookLife on Writing at the Wellspring); “epic and intimate, a portrait of a mind and a milieu” (BookLife on Journals, Volume 1), and Thomas Ligotti’s observation that my work keeps “one eye on the black abyss and the other on an enlightened transcendence without denomination.” My books have also been praised by Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, and more.
What readers have said
Here are a few notes I’ve received from appreciative readers:
“So happy I found your newsletter. Your insights on the writing process resonated deeply with me.” — Jennifer Sablich
“Your work has very much connected with me, especially the elements covering existential dread, Ligotti (of course!), and how we writers/humans can curate our own ‘meaning’ without coming apart.” — William Grabowski
“I’m so glad I found you, just as I was about to totally give up. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge.” — V.
“You’re writing some of the freshest stuff on spiritual creativity I’ve seen since Julia Cameron and Natalie Goldberg.” — R. J.
“Your writing has helped me tap into parts of myself I feel very strongly but often struggle to articulate, particularly my relationship to spirituality, creativity, and what it means (or doesn’t mean) to be a person.” — Andrew Sanger
“Thank you for sharing your writing. It has been a tremendous help in shifting how I see creativity and ultimately life itself.” — J. B.
“I went through a challenging relationship with my writing, and your voice is helping me find my way out of that particular dark.” — M. Rickert
About me
I’m Matt Cardin, a writer, editor, and educator. I’m a former professor of English and religion and a current college vice president with a Ph.D. in leadership and an M.A. in religious studies. I have published fiction and nonfiction for more than two decades, beginning with stories and books that explored the intersection of religion with weird and cosmic horror, which is one of the areas where I’m still best known. You can read a more detailed bio at my author website.
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The Living Dark is reader-supported. Most posts are free, while paid subscribers receive additional material, including the Living Dark Reader and access to the full archive.
