Thought for the Day

Let us reclaim creativity and imagination as essential, central,

and necessary parts of our faith journey. Imagination is a gift

given to us by the Creator to steward, a gift that no other creature

under heaven and earth (as far as I know) has been given.

~ Makoto Fujimura

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Quoted from Makoto Fujimura, Art + Faith: A Theology of Making (Yale University Press, 2020), p. 149

Makoto Fujimura, Artist; Author; Founder, International Arts Movement and Fujimura Institute; Co-Founder, Kintsugi Academy

Thought for the Day

One of the most difficult challenges for couples is getting them to

see beyond their own entrenched perspectives, to acknowledge

a partner's radical otherness and appreciate difference and 

sovereignty. [. . .] To be truly open to your partner's experience, 

you must relinquish your conviction in the righteousness of your

  own position; this requires humility and the courage

 to tolerate uncertainty. [. . .]

[. . . ] Love is ultimately measured by people's capacity to see

and care about the other person, as [that other person is];

succeeding in this effort is how people in relationships grow.

~ Dr. Orna Guralnik

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Quoted from Dr. Orna Guralnik, "I'm a Couples Therapist. Something New Is Happening in Relationships" in The New York Times, May 16, 2023; Online (Audio of the article is available online. A version of the article appeared in print in the Sunday New York Times Magazine on May 21, 2023, p. 37. The entire article is well-worth reading.)

Dr. Orna Guralnik, Clinical Psychologist, Psychoanalyst, and Academic (New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis); Therapist, Showtime's "Couples Therapy"; Writer

Orna Guralnik's Website

Thought for the Day

If you see life's potential as art, is it artful or artificial living?

~ Terrance Hayes

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Quoted from Terrance Hayes, "American Sonnet Starring Octavia Butler II" in So to Speak (Penguin Random House, 2023)

The quote is the concluding line of the poem, which appeared in Poetry Daily on August 24, 2023.

Terrance Hayes, Honored Poet; Professor of Creative Writing, New York University

Thought for the Day

[. . .] love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. [. . .]

~ Galatians 5:22 (The Fruit of the Spirit)

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Quoted from "The Letter of Paul to the Galatians" in "The New Testament" in The Holy Bible (New Revised Standard Version, 1989), p. 249

Opinion columnist David French writes, "[W]hen you encounter another person — regardless of what they say about their religious beliefs — you can discern their true character by such traits. [. . .]" (David French, "Political Christianity Has Claws" in The New York Times, August 24, 2023; Online) 

Considering these virtues, then, the question to ask ourselves is, What is the message of "political Christians" today, if, as French comments, the Fruit of the Spirit is to "help us obey one of our highest calls: to love our neighbors as we love ourselves."

Thought for the Day

[. . . ] If we're not paying attention through our own

senses, we have disengaged from the primary mode

in which every creature since the origin of life has

connected to its environment. And if we're not listening,

we've got no stories to tell the future. [. . .]

~ David G. Haskell

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Quoted from Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, "Listening and the Crisis of Inattention: An Interview with David G. Haskell," Emergence Magazine (Online), April 21, 2022

David G. Haskell, Biologist, Writer and Author

Thought for the Day

[. . .]

What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day, //

Is ourselves. And that's all we need /

To start. That's everything we require to keep going.

~ Alberto Rios

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Quoted from "A House Called Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Poetry" (Copper Canyon Press, 2023)

Alberto Rios, Award-Winning Poet, Short Story Writer, Memoirist, Novelist; Inaugural Poet Laureate of Arizona; Chancellor Emeritus, Academy of American Poets, 2014-2020; Regents' Professor, Arizona State University

Copper Canyon Press

Thought for the Day

[. . .] — to come anywhere in the world or, more accurately,

to be anywhere in the world — is not only to register accurately

what one sees, and not only to convey how one sees it (how one

assesses it, how one judges it). It is to turn seeing into witnessing,

and witnessing into advocacy. And most importantly, to inspire

a similar transformation in others. [. . .]

~ George Dardess

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Quoted from George Dardess, "See So That Others May See," Essay at Close Reading Blog, June 19, 2023

George Dardess, Ph.D., Close Reader of English Literature; Roman Catholic Deacon; Writer and Author; Critical Reviewer; Expert in Muslim-Christian Relations (Among George Dardess's work is the graphic novel Foreign Exchange.)

Other Essays by George Dardess at SlantBooks

Thought for the Day

Silence is a flower, it opens up, dilates, extends /

its texture, can grow, mutate, return on its steps. /

It can watch other flowers grow and become what /

they are. [. . .]

~ Etel Adnan

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Quoted from Etel Adnan, Shifting the Silence (Nightboat Books, 2020), page 68

Etel Adnan (1925-2021), Lebanese-American Poet, Essayist, Novelist, Translator, Internationally Exhibited Visual Artist, Playwright

Thought for the Day

[. . . ] to love who we love /

is an undoing [. . . .]

~ Maya Stein

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Quoted from Maya Stein, "to love who we love" (Poem Celebrating Pride Month), June 16, 2023

Maya Stein, Poet, Writing Guide, Freelance Writer-Editor, Author

Maya Stein on Instagram

Thought for the Day

Mortality got my attention.

Imagination is a form of courage, as courage is

a form of imagination.

You don't want to die not having lived.

~ Jorie Graham

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Quoted from Jill Radsken, "'Mortality got my attention, says poet whose latest collection is 'To 2040'," Interview with Jorie Graham, The Harvard Gazette, May 31, 2023

Jorie Graham, Poet; Editor; Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric, Harvard University; Former Chancellor, The Academy of American Poets