Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Irwin opens his jar



Here are some of the favourite Lightning Bugs I trapped in my jar on the weekend:

Avi: "What is given should be written in sand; what is received should be carved in stone."

Eugene Peterson: "Writing is a way of entering into language and letting language enter into me."
He spoke of finding "a way of language in which God, implicitly or explicitly, always has the first word."
"It was in the badlands that I quit typing and learned to write."

Kate DiCamillo: defined writing as "the beautiful thing in conjunction with the uppercut of truth."
Like Emily Dickinson, she remarked, "I see the truth out of the corner of my eye."

Parker Palmer: quoted an 18th C theologian: "We need to learn with our minds descended into our hearts."
"Truth is an eternal conversation about things that matter, conducted with passion and discipline."
When writing, he said, "I am partnering with something that is not me / more me."
The litmus test of vocation: "I can't not do it."
"My number one bafflement is me, myself, and I."
"The God of Reality does not favour fakery."
"Reality must be honoured by words that reveal its nature. . . .Even the most eloquent words cannot reveal a reality that is not.
"All of our propositions and practices are earthen vessels. . . .When people insist that the treasure cannot be carried in anything but their earthen vessels, they get into trouble."
Parker's father's advice to him: "Today's peacock is tomorrow's feather duster."

Luci Shaw: "Whatever is swimming into your life becomes the subject of poetry."

Thomas Aquinas: "If you sing to God, you pray twice."

Mary Carr: "The average well-bred American WASP can ignore Reality better than any drug addict."
"It's not about how bad you are, but about how good God is."

Please add to the Lightning Bug list. Then the light will shine more brightly.
Irwin


Why are we reading if not in hope of beauty laid bare,
life heightened, and its deepest mystery probed?
-- Annie Dillard'


1 comment:

  1. This is Wonderful! Why are such wonderful bits of information and musings so obscure to the public eye? Or at least to the writer's eye.
    This is wonderful and it fills my spirit like a turkey dinner at Thanksgiving fills our bellies. I am so delighted to have found this!

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