I just have had no clear post in mind. Nothing that would make one, flowing, intelligent blogpost.
And I think that's my problem.
I want it to be intelligent.
Let me start by saying Madeleine L'Engle.
This summer has been spent between working, reading books that I want to read (I know.. what a novel idea...), hanging out with friends, throwing dinner parties, and getting things for school.
The biggest deal, though, is the fact that I don't have to catch up on any school this summer. I'm free. and that's a fantastic feeling.
I just finished To Kill A Mockingbird (omgsh amazing), I read an Agatha Christie, caught up on all of my Kinfolk magazines, and am now reading A Circle of Quiet by L'Engle, Antigone, and King Lear.
While reading A Circle of Quiet this afternoon, I came across a section about self-consciousness and what it has to do with creativity. The section that I want to share with you expresses perfectly my feelings about this idea in a way that I wish I could emulate. And yes. I'm going to share the entire quote with you, thus going against all writing rules.
"When we are self-conscious, we cannot be wholly aware; we must throw ourselves out first. This throwing ourselves away is the act of creativity. So, when we wholly concentrate, like a child in play, or an artist at work, then we share in the act of creating We not only escape time, we also escape our self-conscious selves.
The Greeks had a word for ultimate self-consciousness which I find illuminating: hubris: pride: pride in the sense of putting oneself in the center of the universe. The strange and terrible thing is that this kind of total self-consciousness invariably ends in self-annihilation. The great tragedians have always understood this, from Sophocles to Shakespeare. We witness it in history in such people as Tiberius, Eva Peron, Hitler.
I was timid about putting forth most of these thoughts, but this kind of timidity is itself a form of pride. The moment that humility becomes self-conscious, it becomes hubris. One cannot be humble and aware of oneself at the same time. Therefore, the act of creating- painting a picture, sining a song, writing a story- is a humble act? This was a new thought to me. Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else."
OH there is so much more to this quote. And I would put it all down here, however I think this is the time for an endorsement for this book. GO. Read it. Have the world make more sense.
Or at least have my world make more sense.
So all that to say. Happy summer. Excuse me while I go try to not be self-conscious. Meanwhile, Here's one of my favorite songs right now.
