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jessica, 23(!), unbeingdead isn't beingalive. jesus loved me first.

[rjm--rjm]

When from our better selves we have too long Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop, Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, How gracious, how benign, is Solitude.

- William Wordsworth

[rjm--rjm]

it is dark at 4pm and i am writing a research proposal and reading articles about empathy and literature and reading and our brains and right now i’m reading a bunch of yann martel and he said this and i think it’s the most perfect thing i could have read today (with this thunder rumbling and this storm rolling in and this weight of water in my chest). yes, this. yes, pursuit of this. yes, this in the middle of this life right now:

“I got to thinking about stillness. To read a book, one must be still. To watch a concert, a play, a movie, to look at a painting, one must be still. Religion, too, makes use of stillness, notably with prayer and meditation. Just gazing upon a still lake, upon a quiet winter scene—doesn’t that lull us into contemplation? Life, it seems, favours moments of stillness to appear on the edges of our perception and whisper to us, “Here I am. What do you think?” Then we become busy and the stillness vanishes, yet we hardly notice because we fall so easily for the delusion of busyness, whereby what keeps us busy must be important, and the busier we are with it, the more important it must be. And so we work, work, work, rush, rush, rush. On occasion we say to ourselves, panting, “Gosh, life is racing by.” But that’s not it at all, it’s the contrary: life is still. It is we who are racing by.” 

[rjm--rjm]

You are tired, (I think) Of the always puzzle of living and doing; And so am I.

Come with me, then, And we’ll leave it far and far away— (Only you and I, understand!)

You have played, (I think) And broke the toys you were fondest of, And are a little tired now; Tired of things that break, and— Just tired. So am I.

But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight, And knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart— Open to me! For I will show you the places Nobody knows, And, if you like, The perfect places of Sleep.

Ah, come with me! I’ll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon, That floats forever and a day; I’ll sing you the jacinth song Of the probable stars; I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream, Until I find the Only Flower, Which shall keep (I think) your little heart While the moon comes out of the sea.

e.e. cummings

[circumnavigating]

half awake in a fake empire

[circumnavigating]

i remember my father's voice, dressed in anger, swollen with grace. my surrender, his forgiveness. i have never seen such glory since

this.

[ajoyfulvapour]

New York November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to…

[rjm--rjm]

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."

Antoine de Saint Exupéry (via altiusaltius)

[circumnavigating]

Quietude, which some men cannot abide, because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar to the wise, for along its hallowed courts the King in his beauty deigns to walk.

Spurgeon

[shaefierce-blog]

[halfthetime]

altiusaltius:

[circumnavigating]

happy one year, my boy 💛

[circumnavigating]

Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and grovelled between the covers, tunnelled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands.

Steinbeck, East of Eden

[circumnavigating]

The strange and foreign is not interesting - only the deeply personal and familiar.

Lee in Steinbeck's East of Eden.

[circumnavigating]

I wonder what agonies have settled here. Give me a used Bible and I will, I think, be able to tell you about a man by the places that are edged with the dirt of seeking fingers.

Samuel in Steinbeck's East of Eden.  altiusaltius, these are for you.

[circumnavigating]

I eat stories like grapes.

Samuel in Steinbeck's East of Eden

[circumnavigating]

And my father became very Chinese then. He said, 'There's more beauty in the truth even if it is dreadful beauty. The storytellers at the city gate twist life so that it looks sweet to the lazy and the stupid and the weak, and this only strengthens their infirmities and teaches nothing, cures nothing, nor does it let the heart soar.'

Steinbeck, East of Eden.  Holiday reading is good for you.

[circumnavigating]

God give us rain when we expect sun. Give us music when we expect trouble. Give us tears when we expect breakfast. Give us dreams when we expect a storm. Give us a stray dog when we expect congratulations. God play with us, turn us sideways and around. Amen.

[circumnavigating]

crystal falls #vscocam (at dorrigo national park)