“The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.“
Tag Archives: Inspiration
Important But Not Serious
Quote
“Our work may be important, but we don’t take it too seriously. Otherwise, we get attached to one relatively small thing and ignore the rest of life. We’re creating a little niche for ourselves instead of working the whole canvas.“
–The Dude and the Zen Master by Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman
From the introduction:
“To me, this book is sort of like a snakeskin. A snakeskin is something you might find on the side of the road and make something out of—a belt, say, or a hatband. The snake itself heads off doing more snake stuff—getting it on with lady snakes, eating rats, making more snakeskins, et cetera.“
Life as an Experiment
Quote
“So much of the satisfying work of life begins as an experiment; having learned this, no experiment is ever quite a failure.“
-In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens
It’s About Living
Quote
“It’s about living a life that makes you want to get out of bed every day, a life that makes you feel proud to showcase your work, every chance you get, for the whole world to see. At least, that’s what it’s about for me.”
–Chick Ink: 40 Stories of Tattoos–And the Women Who Wear Them
Notice Your Joy
Quote
Good Things and Bad People
“I don’t think there’s a ledger of good and evil, this much good offsets that much evil. It’s just, oh, you know, there was that popular book a few years back, when bad things happen to good people, or whatever it was? That’s pie-in-the-sky stuff, to keep all us working stiffs from rising up in fury at the inequities in the world. No one ever writes about all the good things that happen to bad people, how the rich and powerful walk away from the messes they make, and people like me, like my neighbor, like my parents, pay for the clean-up.“
–Blacklist (V.I. Warshawski Novels) by Sara Paretsky
The book referenced in the above quote is When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner. It’s an excellent and book and I highly recommend it – as long as the original intention is clearly understood.
When I read the book I was going through some particularly difficult times and my response echoed the above quote almost perfectly. I was having an internal grumble session over the things the popular press feeds the masses and why people devour them so readily when I happened to stumble across the introduction.
According to the introduction, Rabbi Kushner wrote the book with the intention of providing advice to other clergy who were struggling to help members of their faith get through tough times. Therefore, the intended audience is professional religious assisting others with difficult aspects of life’s journey. After making that connection, the book, as a whole, was far more appealing and much easier to digest.
Personally, I still struggle with the why do good things happen to bad people part of the equation (which is nicely expressed in the above quote), but this particular popular press text no longer feels like one of the many hands of oppression…uh…please excuse the borderline radical fire-starter language – it’s just a rather apt description of a feeling.
(C) Adora Myers 2014
Hope
Quote
“Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.”
–Staring the Pig in the Face