Thought for the Day

. . . [Y]ou come to poetry not out of what you know
but out of what you wonder. [. . .]
~ Lucille Clifton

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Quoted from "Lucille Clifton on What Poetry Is," Poetry Breaks Video Series, March 30, 2017

Lucille Clifton (1936-2010), American Poet, Writer, Educator

Thought for the Day

Searching is hard work. The intensity of it can make us

frantic – [. . .] The loss can paralyze us. [. . .]

To find something lost, we must change our minds.

We must believe it is there to be found. [. . .]

~ Michael A. Longinow

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Quoted from "Go and Search Carefully," Center for Christianity Culture & the Arts, Biola University Advent Project 2024, December 25, 2024 (Online)

Dr. Michael A. Longinow, Chair, Department of Digital Journalism and Media, School of Fine Arts and Communication, Biola University; Advisor, Print Journalism, and Advisor, The Chimes (Newspaper); Co-Adviser, Media Narrative Projects, School of Fine Arts and Communication, Biola University (See About at the first link above for additional information about Dr. Longinow.)

Thought forthe Day

[. . . ] What does it mean to live in a place haunted

by the loss of water; can we hold the stories, memories,

and pain of those who've known it; and how do we learn 

to embrace what emerges in its wake?

~ Emergence Magazine

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Quoted from Introductory Remarks to Aralkum, Emergence Magazine Newsletter, January 12, 2025

This short film (watch it here or here), which premiered online on January 12, 2025, on Emergence, shows us the landscape that was once the Aral Sea, and how, since 1960, it has been transformed from our Earth's fourth largest body of inland water into what is called Aralkum, the world's youngest desert. It re-imagines the sea's existence as an elderly fisherman seeks to set sail again.

The 2022 film is the creation of documentary filmmakers Daniel Asadi Faezi and Mila Zhluktenko.

Thought for the Day

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,

and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

~ Wendell Berry

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Quoted from Wendell Berry, "To Know the Dark" in Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds (Bloodaxe Books, 2007), Sec. 1

Wendell Berry, American Novelist, Poet, Essayist, Environmental Activist, Cultural Critic, Farmer

The Berry Center

Thought for the Day

[. . .] you will never love art until you love

what it mirrors better."

~ John Ruskin

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Quoted from John Ruskin, The Eagle's Nest: Ten Lectures on the Relation of Natural Science to Art, Given Before the University of Oxford in Lent Term | The Works of John Ruskin, Vol. 4 (Smith, Elder & Co., 1874), p 45

John Ruskin (1819 - 1900), English Polymath (Writer, Lecturer, Art Historian, Art Critic, Draughtsman, Philanthropist, Geologist, and more)

Ruskin Museum

National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

National Gallery of London (U.K.)

Thought for the Day

 Much protest is naive; it expects quick, visible improvement

and despairs and gives up when such improvement does

not come. If protest depended on success, there would be

little protest of any durability or significance. History simply

affords too little evidence that anyone's individual protest

is of any use. Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope

far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope

of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that

would be destroyed by acquiescence.

    ~ Wendell Berry

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Quoted from Wendell Berry, "A Poem of Difficult Hope" in What Are People For: Essays (Counterpoint Press. 2010)

 

Wendell Berry, Poet, Fiction Writer, Essayist, Author; Environmental Activist; Cultural Critic; Farmer

The Berry Center

Thought for the Day

[. . .] I went in search of truth and found love at the heart

of all things. I have come to realize that all knowledge is

true knowledge – whether in the sciences or in the

humanities – if it moves one to fall more deeply in love.

~ Ilia Delio

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Quoted from "Love is the Source of All," Daily Meditations on Contemplation and Science, Center for Action and Contemplation, December 5, 2024

 

 Ilia Delio, Scientist and Theologian; Author, Birth of a Dancing Star (Orbis Books, 2019), pp. 195, 196, 200

Thought for the Day

What separates privilege from entitlement

is gratitude.

~ Brene Brown

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Quoted from Brene Brown, What Separates Privilege from Entitlement is Gratitude: Gratitude Journal for Women (Morium Great Press, 2021)

Thought for the Day

The only true life we live in this world is the life we consent to

live in relationship, messy and entangled though it might be.

The only fruit worth sharing with the world is the fruit

we'll produce together.

~ Debie Thomas

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Quoted from Debie Thomas, "Bearing Fruit Together" (Daily Meditation) at Center for Action and Contemplation, November 13, 2024 (Online)

Debie Thomas, Author, A Faith of Many Rooms and Into the Mess and Other Jesus Stories; Columnist; Contributing Editor, The Christian Century; Speaker

Center for Action and Contemplation

Thought for the Day

What I am interested in is unexpected gatherings of people

who manage to tolerate working together to make surprising

things emerge from their unexpected coalitions. [. . .] Surprise

is an old human emotion. When employed for the purposes of 

creating ⏤ not destroying ⏤ it can elicit energy, ideas and work.

~ Padraig O' Tuama

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Quoted from Padraig O' Tuama, "Art and coalition | The survival of surprise," Poetry Unbound Newsletter (Substack), November 10, 2024 (Online)

Padraig O' Tuama, Poet, Theologian, Mediator