the question

"Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

-Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903

We kinda studied the 'existentialism'-ness of this quotation in class one day... but it stuck with me. recently, it appeared in a book i was reading called "The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating" (its a charming book, truly!) but i realize i've been doing this more and more, and i find it important to do... which is just to wait for the answer, listen to the universe. in time, everything has its purpose... the stars align, or they don't, and if they don't, well then, that's a sign, too. its a patience game, like when you strum a guitar, carefully pulling down each string. in the lull there is power too, and so much space and energy. i want to listen to that space as well as the actual note.

its like the journey is the destination, eh? there is no destination without the journey, because you can't just arrive at your own doorstep if you're already standing there. 

-Abi

The Best Way to Describe It.

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit at a typewriter and bleed."-Ernest Hemingway

there is no better way to say it, honestly.

aryion

invisible strings

"Funny, what invisible strings connect us all" -monk in Avatar: The Last Airbender


I always go back to this quotation in my mind... thinking more and more that coincidence is minor, and that fate is a web that connects us all. like a collective fate. nothing pre-ordained, just tugged on and updated, like when strings in a web get pulled and the spider knows.


had one of those moments the other day, thats why this popped into my head again!


aryion-- i will give it a shot!! (once i finish my book list : ) )




-Abi

To be in Love with Yourself

"In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices."-Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

Before any judgmental notions pop into your brain let me tell you; this book is amazing. The writing is witty and very personal, and it is like we go on that journey of self-fulfillment with her. I feel that oftentimes we get lost trying to live in this world and sometimes we just need to pause and brush off the old spirituality once in a while. The stigma of popularity follows this book, and I myself thought it was one of those 'housewife' reads, but it was wonderful, and I am glad it is in my life now. Thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert. Thank you and thank you and thank you.

Abi, I feel like you'd really like this book and I may or may not be giving it to you the next time we meet.

Aryion

fairytale

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales." -Albert Einstein

1

love : ) its true... i think a lot of what our culture is based off of, well, the processes that make cultural evolution possible, are found in the very means of legend, folklore, and myth. and they add a bit more magic to everyday life.


i'm really liking this quotation as i read more and more children's stories... finding that every story is apart of the narrative (and i'd like to contribute to that)


-Abi

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes

"You see, Doctor, God didn't kill that little girl. Fate didn't butcher her and destiny did not feed her to those dogs. If god saw what any of us did that night he didn't seem to mind. From then on I knew... God didn't make the world this way. We do."- Watchmen

Alan Moore is depressing. He's kind of cynical and such. But he's just like Chuck Pala-something, he's a great writer. Anyone who can win a Pulitzer for a comic book means he'll be on my favorites list.
This is from watchmen, but I also highly recommend V for Vendetta.

Who watches the Watchmen?
Aryion

Fredrik Gertten

"When you have mighty enemies, it's good to have many friends"
 -Fredrik Gertten


*ahem* i was just about to blog, ar! haha.


So I just came back from the Environmental Film Festival at Yale, and i've seen like 3 screenings so far. tonight though was by far my favorite film, a film called Big Boys Gone Bananas!, an amazing sequel to Gertten's first documentary Bananas, that filmed the legal battle between Nicaraguan banana farmers and Dole fruit company, and the pesticide use that was causing medical issues and beyond to these workers.


When Gertten and his small company of 4, based in Sweden, were about to launch their first film at the L.A film festival, Dole WENT BANANAS. I mean, they flipped out-- they emailed, and sent notices, and subtle threats to everyone related to this film, even to the L.A film festival organization. long story short, he did get to play his documentary there, but Dole filed a suit right after.


Big Boys Gone Bananas! chronicles Gertten's unwillingness to give in to the corporate scheme. i had the opportunity to watch the film alongside Gertten, the director. afterwards he spoke. preceding the screening and interview, he said the quotation above.


i think its so important to stand up to the powers that be. its amazing how the crowd reacted to the ending of the movie, which i won't ruin.


but everyone burst into applause, and stood up and everything. we really do salute truth, and this guy told it.




boycott Dole! (and stick up for independent documentarians)


-Abi