Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls. - Joseph Campbell (On Mythology) - I've tried to live my life following this philosophy, one way I do this: I look at individuals I look up to, and see how they follow their bliss, and was pleasantly surprised by the number of them who follow Joseph Campbell's teachings, so I know I'm on the right track....
“Once, in my father's bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later — no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget — we will return.” - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Shadow of the Wind) - exactly how I feel when I go into a bookstore, so it's nice to feel vindicated even if it's only from one of my favorite books of all time - side note: I actually chose this book because of its cover, Al's its insert that said an author's soul is released every time someone reads his/her book, and I wanted to continue that vision....
We can imagine the books we'd like to read, even if they have not yet been written, and we can imagine libraries full of books we would like to possess, even if they are well beyond our reacher, because we enjoy dreaming up a library that reflects every one of our interests and every one of our foibles--a library that, in its variety and complexity, fully reflects the reader we are. - Alberto Manguel (Library at Night) - he has influenced how I've accumulated the books in my library now numbering 7500+ and counting...
The writer Umberto Eco belongs to that small class of scholars who are encyclopedic, insightful, and nondull. He is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books), and separates visitors into two categories: those who react with “Wow! Signore professore dottore Eco, what a library you have! How many of these books have you read?” and the others — a very small minority — who get the point that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary. - Nassim Taleb (Black Swan) describing Umberto Eco (Pendulum of the Rose) - I love this idea as a response to the common question I receive when people look at my collection - just because I haven't read them all doesn't mean I dont need them all...
Let me list for you some of the many ways in which you might be afraid to live a more creative life: You’re afraid you have no talent. You’re afraid you’ll be rejected or criticized or ridiculed or misunderstood or—worst of all—ignored. You’re afraid there’s no market for your creativity, and therefore no point in pursuing it. You’re afraid somebody else already did it better. You’re afraid everybody else already did it better. You’re afraid somebody will steal your ideas, so it’s safer to keep them hidden forever in the dark. You’re afraid you won’t be taken seriously. You’re afraid your work isn’t politically, emotionally, or artistically important enough to change anyone’s life. You’re afraid your dreams are embarrassing. You’re afraid that someday you’ll look back on your creative endeavors as having been a giant waste of time, effort, and money. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of discipline. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of work space, or financial freedom, or empty hours in which to focus on invention or exploration. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of training or degree. You’re afraid you’re too fat. (I don’t know what this has to do with creativity, exactly, but experience has taught me that most of us are afraid we’re too fat, so let’s just put that on the anxiety list, for good measure.) You’re afraid of being exposed as a hack, or a fool, or a dilettante, or a narcissist. You’re afraid of upsetting your family with what you may reveal. You’re afraid of what your peers and coworkers will say if you express your personal truth aloud. You’re afraid of unleashing your innermost demons, and you really don’t want to encounter your innermost demons. You’re afraid your best work is behind you. You’re afraid you never had any best work to begin with. You’re afraid you neglected your creativity for so long that now you can never get it back. You’re afraid you’re too old to start. You’re afraid you’re too young to start. You’re afraid because something went well in your life once, so obviously nothing can ever go well again. You’re afraid because nothing has ever gone well in your life, so why bother trying? You’re afraid of being a one-hit wonder. You’re afraid of being a no-hit wonder. - Elizabeth Gilbert (Big Magic) - I love this book so much because it gave me the. Outage to retire without fear, and I've never been happier, even though I loved the. Kassroom it's given me the freedom to take on anything, to which I'm grateful...
Doctor Who: You want weapons? We're in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself! - this appeals to my quirky side, my love for eclectic and quirky things, as evidenced by Doctor Who and one of my favorite writers, Douglas Adams...
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. James 3 (Bible) - a critical influence in all things in my life, including being a teacher the past 33 years....
It's decorating time in my office and the biggest problem has been the number of books I possess. The question I have to ask is why so many have not been read. Which do I discard - these or the ones that have been read.
ReplyDeleteYour post has really made me think.
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