Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there at the sandpile at Sunday School.
All things which make noise at the side of the path do not come down the path. AFRICAN PROVERB.
People requested help with the rituals of solitude, such as meditation, prayer, and contemplation.
The seeds of the day are best planted in the first hour. DUTCH PROVERB.
Rituals do not always involve words, occasions, officials, or an audience. Rituals are often silent, solitary, and self-contained. The.
For forty years I combed my hair that way, and every time I did, I pushed my mother away from me. There was much she didn’t like about my life – and the parting of my hair became a ritual parting of the ways with her.
As these anecdotes illustrate, ritual refers to two kinds of acts: those things we do for the first time that, in fact, have been done by the human race again and again forever – and those patterns that we ourselves repeat again and again because they bring structure and meaning to our individual and collective lives.
Even now I carry my voter-registration card in my wallet – reminding me of both my privileges and my obligations as an adult citizen in a free country. The card tells me much more than just the location of my voting booth. It’s one of the most powerful talismans of my identity – even more important than a driver’s license. Anybody can drive a car.
Life is nothing but moments of crossing over.
Revisiting the music of one’s youth is part of the reunion with self. Whatever your parents may have thought of the music, however the music may survive the test of time, if it was the music you listened to in high school or college days, then it plays forever in some ballroom of your mind. You can still mouth the words and do the dances.
The shift of self-perception is the most powerful ingredient in the chain reaction of becoming the person you are always becoming.
Teachers want to know what difference they made in the lives of their pupils, and reunions are a great place to find out.
The most difficult mountain to cross is the threshold. DANISH PROVERB.
Only at some distance in time and place do you understand the significance of the crossing over – finding in the ritual retelling a way of sanctifying the memory.
I’m not often aware that I am happy. But I often remember that I have been happy.
It is not true, by the way, that mermaids do not exist. I know at least one personally. I have held her hand.
Life is – and we are – byproducts of combustion. Imagination turned to form and finally, memory.
The eye that looks in on us and the eye that looks out from us is not the same eye.
If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire – then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. “Learn to separate the inconveniences from the real problems. You will live longer.
What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Surprise is at the core of existence. It’s true. You never ever really know what’s coming next.