#r

I watched the enormity of the clouds for several minutes. What I wanted to experience in the water, I realized, was how life of the reef was layered and intertwined. I now had many individual pieces at hand: named images, nouns. How were they related? What were the verbs? Which syntaxes were indigenous to the place? I asked a dozen knowledgeable people. No one was inclined to elaborate- or they didn’t know. “Did you see the octopus?” Someone shouted after the dive. Yes, I thought, but who among us knows what it was doing? What else was THERE, just then? WHY? ↗

— Barry Lopez

#diving #mystery #ocean #reefs #experience

Now, it would be wholly foolish to deny the existence of laws of nature. And if that is what we are talking about when we say God, then no one can possibly be an atheist, or at least anyone who would profess atheism would have to give a coherent argument about why the laws of nature are inapplicable. I think he or she would be hard-pressed. So with this latter definition of God, we all believe in God. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#experience

Our love is sharpened by the stone of our challenges and strengthened by the struggles of our growth. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#growth #happiness #life #love #relationships

Listening is a gift of spiritual significance that you can learn to give to others. When you listen, you give one a sense of importance, hope and love that he or she may not receive any other way. Through listening, we nurture and validate the feelings one has, especially when he or she experiences difficulties in life. ↗

— H. Norman Wright

#experience

Is your badness so varied that it is still delightful? I expect anything gets boring after a while.' He looked at her with interest. 'How perceptive you are. It takes a good deal of effort to keep badness from being boring. One must seek out new experiences and challenges. Our mutual friends may think I have an easy life, but being notorious is grueling work after a few years. ↗

— Madeline Hunter

#humor #experience

You can speak with spiritual eloquence, pray in public, and maintain a holy appearance, but it is your behavior that will reveal your true character. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#behavior #character #holy #inspirational #spiritual

From warm meals, to daily exercise, to healthcare; one can't help but wonder how our society would be different if tended to the elderly as we do to our imprisoned. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#exercise #healthcare #jail #means #prisoners

[T]he new weird represents a productive experiment in fantasy fiction. The New Wave of the 1960s and 1970s arguably embodied science fiction's claim to literary 'seriousness.' This desire for seriousness is not snobbery, as sometimes suggested by folks who overemphasize the entertainment function of speculative fiction; it's about recognition of the vast possibilities within the field. ↗

— Darja Malcolm-Clarke

#literary-criticism #new-wave #new-weird #science-fiction #experience

Experience had taught me that innocence seldom utters outraged shrikes. Guilt does. Innocence is a mighty shield, and the man or woman covered by it, is much more likely to answer calmly: 'My life is blameless. Look into it, if you like, for you will find nothing.' That is the tone of innocence. ↗

— Whittaker Chambers

#innocence #experience

It is proper for people to have friends, friendships without self-interest. Without friends, life is too lonely. ↗

— Pramoedya Ananta Toer

#friendship #friendship