The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “Mary Oliver”

How We Render Reality: Attention as an Instrument of Love
How We Render Reality: Attention as an Instrument of Love

“Since our consciousness plays some part in what comes into being, the play of attention can both create and destroy, but it never leaves its object unchanged.”

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May Sarton on How to Cultivate Your Talent
May Sarton on How to Cultivate Your Talent

“A talent grows by being used, and withers if it is not used.”

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Meditation in Sunlight: May Sarton’s Stunning Poem About the Relationship Between Presence, Solitude, and Love
Meditation in Sunlight: May Sarton’s Stunning Poem About the Relationship Between Presence, Solitude, and Love

“…and joy instead of will.”

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The Art of Divination: D.H. Lawrence on the Power of Pure Attention
The Art of Divination: D.H. Lawrence on the Power of Pure Attention

“An act of pure attention, if you are capable of it, will bring its own answer.”

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How to Stop Waiting and Start Living: A Jolt from Henry James
How to Stop Waiting and Start Living: A Jolt from Henry James

“It wouldn’t have been failure to be bankrupt, dishonoured, pilloried, hanged; it was failure not to be anything.”

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The Remedy for Creative Block and Existential Stuckness
The Remedy for Creative Block and Existential Stuckness

“Faithfulness to the moment and to the present circumstance entails continuous surrender… Only unconditional surrender leads to real emptiness, and from that place of emptiness I can be prolific and free.”

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The Life of Trees: A Poem
The Life of Trees: A Poem

“I want to sleep and dream the life of trees, beings from the muted world…”

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May Sarton on How to Live Openheartedly in a Harsh World
May Sarton on How to Live Openheartedly in a Harsh World

“We have to keep the channels in ourselves open to pain. At the same time it is essential that true joys be experienced, that the sunrise not leave us unmoved, for civilization depends on the true joys.”

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How to Be Un-Dead: Anaïs Nin and D.H. Lawrence on the Key to Living Fully
How to Be Un-Dead: Anaïs Nin and D.H. Lawrence on the Key to Living Fully

“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”

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Virginia Woolf on the Courage to Create Rather Than Cater and the Remedy for Self-Doubt
Virginia Woolf on the Courage to Create Rather Than Cater and the Remedy for Self-Doubt

“One must face the despicable vanity which is at the root of all this niggling and haggling.”

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