“There is a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same. A much more interesting, kind and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our curiosity is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is. If we are committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run; we’ll never know what’s beyond that particular barrier or wall or fearful thing.”
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“People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.”
― The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination
― The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination
“Justice. To be ever ready to admit that another person is something quite different from what we read when he is there (or when we think about him). Or rather, to read in him that he is certainly something different, perhaps something completely different from what we read in him.
Every being cries out silently to be read differently.”
― Gravity and Grace
Every being cries out silently to be read differently.”
― Gravity and Grace
“All the natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace is the only exception. Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void. The imagination is continually at work filling up all the fissures through which grace might pass.”
― Gravity and Grace
― Gravity and Grace
“Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.”
― Light in August
― Light in August
Bay Area Literary Lounge
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The Bay Area Literary Lounge is a group that meets to explore and discuss literary interests with friends. Interests are a range from stories, to play ...more
Underground Knowledge — A discussion group
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This global discussion group has been designed to encourage debates about important and underreported issues of our era. All you need is an enquiring ...more
El’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at El’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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