Alain de Botton about Reading to a Young Reader

Dear Reader,

We wouldn’t need books quite so much if everyone around us understood us well. But they don’t. Even those who love us get us wrong. They tell us who we are but miss things out. They claim to know what we need, but forget to ask us properly first. They can’t understand what we feel — and sometimes, we’re unable to tell them, because we don’t really understand it ourselves. That’s where books come in. They explain us to ourselves and to others, and make us feel less strange, less isolated and less alone. We might have lots of good friends, but even with the best friends in the world, there are things that no one quite gets. That’s the moment to turn to books. They are friends waiting for us any time we want them, and they will always speak honestly to us about what really matters. They are the perfect cure for loneliness. They can be our very closest friends.

Yours,

Alain [de Botton]

Blessing for Sound

BLESSING FOR SOUND

from The Bell and the Blackbird by David Whyte

I thank you,

for the smallest sound,

for the way my ears open

even before my eyes,

as if to remember

the way everything began

with an original, vibrant, note,

and I thank you for this

everyday original music,

always being rehearsed,

always being played,

always being remembered

as something new

and arriving, a tram line

below in the city street,

gull cries, or a ship’s horn

in the distant harbour,

so that in waking I hear voices

even where there is no voice

and invitations where

there is no invitation

so that I can wake with you

by the ocean, in summer

or in the deepest seemingly

quietest winter,

and be with you

so that I can hear you

even with my eyes closed,

even with my heart closed,

even before I fully wake.

Moments

There are moments that cry out to be fulfilled.  

Like, telling someone you love them. 

Or giving your money away, all of it.  

Your heart is beating, isn’t it? 

You’re not in chains, are you? 

There is nothing more pathetic than caution 

when headlong might save a life, 

even, possibly, your own.” (Felicity, p. 9)

--Mary Oliver

"We are afraid of religion because it interprets rather than just observes. Religion does not confirm that there are hungry people in the world; it interprets the hungry to be our brethren whom we allow to starve."  --Dorothee Sölle, translated by David L. Scheidt, The Inward Road and the Way Back

"In the end, we’ll all become stories."  --Margaret Atwood

"There's a metaphor in that somewhere - like all of life is about ending up somewhere you didn't expect, and learning to just be happy with it."  --Lauren Oliver

"Death is not an ending, but a symbol of movement along the path upon which we are all traveling. As it may be painful to lose contact with the physical aspect of one we love, the Spirit can never be lost. We have been and always will be a part of each other."  --John Denver

"It's life, that's all. There are no happy endings, just happy days, happy moments. The only real ending is death, and trust me, no one dies happy. And the price of not dying is that things change all the time, and the only thing you can count on is that there's not a thing you can do about it."  --Jonathan Tropper

"The moral of this story is that sometimes, you can attempt to make all the difference in the world, and it still is like trying to stem the tide with a sieve. The moral of this story is that no matter how much we try, no matter how much we want it ... some stories just don't have a happy ending."  --Jodi Picoult

"I found myself speaking softly as if I were telling an old tale to a young child. And giving it a happy ending, when all know that tales never end, and the happy ending is but a moment to catch one's breath before the next disaster."  --Robin Hobb

"I'm alive and capable of love, and love is a fucking river. It's never ending and it flows through us, all around us, keeps us alive and decadent, fierce from struggle and genuine in our vulnerability."  --Daniel Jose Older

"I still want to believe that somewhere, somehow, there is a happy ending for every story. It all depends on how thoroughly you look for it and how badly you need it."  --John Pielmeier

"Beginning a new habit, or ending an old one can feel like letting go of a rope that swings a mile above the ground. So we feel reluctant to let go, after all, we've survived so far doing what we've done, why risk it."  --Philippa Perry

"Just because something is over doesn't mean it wasn't incredibly beautiful. Because another lesson I've learned is not all stories have a happy ending and you have to learn how to deal with that."  --Taylor Swift

"I believe with all my heart God's Story has a happy ending ... But not yet, not necessarily yet. It takes faith to hold on to that in the face of the great burden of experience, which seems to prove otherwise."  --Elisabeth Elliot

"And the pain is too much it's too much it's too much and my hands are on my head and I'm rearing back and my mouth is open in a never-ending wordless wail of all the blackness that's inside me.

And i fall back into it."  --Patrick Ness

"Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers."  --Susan Sontag, “Regarding the Pain of Others” (2003)

"What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?"  --Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give (2017)

Life Is Precious

"The beauty and preciousness of life is intimately linked with its fragility and mortality. We can experience that every day—when we take a flower in our hands, when we see a butterfly dance in the air, when we caress a little baby. Fragility and giftedness are both there, and our joy is connected with both."  --Henri Nouwen

"Teaching is the greatest act of optimism."  --Colleen Wilcox

"We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."  --Elie Wiesel

"It is a serious thing / just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in the broken world."  --Mary Oliver, “Invitation”

"The world would be a paradise of peace and justice if global citizens shared a common definition of love[.]"  --bell hooks, “Building a Community of Love”

"The Sufis advise us to speak only after our words have managed to pass through three gates. At the first gate we ask ourselves, ‘Are these words true?’

If so, we let them pass on; if not, back they go. At the second gate we ask, ‘Are they necessary?’

At the last gate we ask, ‘Are they kind?’"

--Eknath Easwaran

"I want to say to you that most of our brokenness cannot be simply taken away. It’s there. And the deepest pain that you and I suffer is often the pain that stays with us all our lives. It cannot be simply solved, fixed, done away with. . . . What are we then told to do with that pain, with that brokenness, that anguish, that agony that continually rises up in our heart? We are called to embrace it, to befriend it. To not just push it away . . . to walk right over it, to ignore it. No, to embrace it, to befriend it, and say that is my pain and I claim my pain as the way God is willing to show me his love."  --Henri Nouwen

"God grant that evolution may proceed quickly enough for each of us to pick up our own dark side, combine it with our hard-earned light, and make something better of it all than the opposition of the two. This would be true holiness."  --Robert A. Johnson

"Peace where: despair and divisiveness no longer threaten the human race, ignorance and injustice find no friendly place, vision and striving strengthen and thread human destiny, diversity of thoughts and ideas is a cherished treasure.

Peace where: reason and truths herald triumphs, dignity and justice are sacred rights, love transcends all colors and separating walls, hope and freedom are an eternal flame."

--excerpt of Sikh Prayer for Peace

Live Your Wounds

"You have been wounded in many ways. The more you open yourself to being healed, the more you will discover how deep your wounds are ... The great challenge is living your wounds through instead of thinking them through. It is better to cry than to worry, better to feel your wounds deeply than to understand them, better to let them enter into your silence than to talk about them. The choice you face constantly is whether you are taking your hurts to your head or to your heart. In your head you can analyze them, find their causes and consequences, and coin words to speak and write about them. But no final healing is likely to come from that source. You need to let your wounds go down to your heart. Then you can live through them and discover that they will not destroy you. Your heart is greater than your wounds."  --Henri Nouwen

"Open unto me—light for my darkness.

Open unto me—courage for my fear.

Open unto me—hope for my despair.

Open unto me—peace for my turmoil.

Open unto me—joy for my sorrow.

Open unto me— strength for my weakness.

Open unto me—wisdom for my confusion.

Open unto me—forgiveness for my sins.

Open unto me—love for my hates.

Open unto me—thy Self for my self.

Lord, Lord, open unto me!"

--Howard Thurman

"Learn to look behind your judgments to the need at the root of them. Learn from your limitations without losing self-respect. Learn to mourn your actions without blame, without guilt."  --Marshall B. Rosenberg

"I think part of Gandhi's greatness was that he didn't want to be a servant; he wanted to be of service. It is very easy to be a servant, but very difficult to be of service. When you are of service, you're there whether you like it or not, whether it's Sunday, Monday or a holiday. You're whenever you are needed."  --Cesar Chavez