Final Thoughts
"We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea - girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown."
- T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock
Quite a while back I was introduced to the PBS series "The Family" - a series of talks by John Bradshaw. His comments on the human condition struck a resonant chord with me. The imbalance between that which is within us and that which is out is something that I have struggled with through out my life. Hopefully, I am not alone in this. Art, for me, exists as a celebration of that which is within me. It is a celebration of my uniqueness. How do I feel - well let me play it to you. How do you feel, play it to me and show your uniqueness.
"For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life."
- Albert Camus
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"There is no one of my brothers [or sisters]...that I can do without. In the heart of the meanest miser, the most squalid prostitute, the most miserable drunkard, there is an immortal soul with holy aspirations, which deprived of daylight, worships in the night. I hear them speaking when I speak and weeping when I go down on my knees. There is no one of them I can do without. Just as there are many stars in the heavens and their power of calculation is beyond my reckoning so also there are many living beings...I need them all in my praise of God. There are many living souls but there is not one of them that I'm not in communion in the sacred apex where we utter together the Our Father."
- Paul Claudel
The text below is a quote used by John Bradshaw in his series on the family. When a student struggles as I did, or I hear myself saying the same things that were told to me by my teachers, I think of this quote. Even though I am not particularly religious, I can't help but be touched by its message of solidarity.
In this world it's not so unique to carry a big stick.
Call me, maybe 902-430-3980
