what should i do?
Destroy everything you identify with, then identify with something that you cannot destroy. I chose the sky, not any one cloud but I am the container
I believe that suffering is part of the narrative, and that nothing really good gets built when everything's easy. I believe that loss and emptiness and confusion often give way to new fullness and wisdom.
— Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way
“We’re so often told that art can’t really change anything. But I think it can. It shapes our ethical landscapes; it opens us to the interior lives of others. It is a training ground for possibility. It makes plain inequalities, and it offers other ways of living. Don’t you want it, to be impregnate with all that light? And what will happen if you are?”
– Olivia Laing, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency
“Ultimately there is light and love and intelligence in this universe. And we are it; we carry that within us. It’s not just something out there, it is within us and this is what we are trying to re-connect with; our original light and love and intelligence, which is who we are, so do not get so distracted by all this other stuff, you know, really remember what we are here on this planet for.”
— Tenzin Palmo
Princess Mononoke (1997) My Neighbir Totoro (1988) The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.
- Amelia Earhart