Comfort the disturbed. Disturb the comfortable
It's the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at but what you see.-Thoreau
Earth is a collective term for all living things.
The reason why this quote is meaningful to me is because, it has helped me empathize with people.
To me, this quote has to do with the human condition. Everyday, we come across people with different walks of life:
Sonder - the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passed in the street, has a life as complex as one's own, which they are constantly living despite one's personal lack of awareness of it.
I've always been passionate about art because it helps me express complex feelings, thoughts, and it helps me shift my perspective about life. This quote has been a constant inspiration for a lot of my work. The way I see it is: if my art can help with my mental and emotional health, maybe it could do the same for others. -- Comfort the disturbed.
I try to focus on the dark parts of my reality, in hopes of learning and growing from it.
Introspection - the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes.
Oftentimes, people find it hard to face their shadow self. One of the reasons why is vulnerability. I've heard a saying once that mentions
"if you say it out loud, it becomes true". This can be taken as some sort of manifestation tactic for positivity, but the other of the spectrum also suggest that it can be used in a negative way. In a sense, I understand why people tend to keep their negative thoughts/emotions to themselves in the fear of facing those demons. -- Disturb the comfortable.
It's the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at but what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau
I discovered Henry David Thoreau in my junior year of high school. We were reading Walden for my english class, and I remember so vividly how inspired I was about transcendentalism
an idealistic philosophical and social movement which developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures.
I am a pretty idealistic person and I eat stuff up like this. Again, perspective is such a key part of life and it's important to remind ourselves that it doesn't all have to be so black and white. Not a lot of people will agree with me, but change starts within ourselves. For one, nature balances me. The winter time can be tough sometimes because I love being outdoors. It helps me feel connected to everything around me. It is my way of giving back to the source of life and showing appreciation. There's enough madness that goes on around the world that it won't hurt to look around sometimes and show gratitude.
Earth is a collective term for all living things.
- Arin Murphy-Hiscock
The reason why I chose this line is because it's true! It is such a simple saying yet so full of meaning at the same time. Perceiving earth, our planet, as a collective term for all living things makes me feel more connected to my roots. Humanity. Life. Being.
In the book ‘The Green Witch', the author talks about "identifying with the Earth”. I understood this as honoring the earth and considering the natural world as a primary teacher. Nature has a lot to teach us if we look hard enough. Like the seasons, we too change all the time. Maybe not as drastic and beautiful as the elementals, but we have the ability to undergo such a process and reach new beginnings each year.
This movie hits home for me. To be honest, I don't remember too much about it, except the fact that I associate it with the death of my grandfather. It's a little morbid, but it was such a weird timing. I watched it the day before my grandfather passed away.
Released in 2001, Donnie Darko opened to a slow box office, but quickly gained a devoted cult following. The science-fiction drama centered around a troubled teenager named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is led through a number of tasks by a creepy, rabbit-costumed figure known as Frank. All the while, Donnie struggles with determining the strange and surreal elements to which he is being exposed, and we question whether or not this is a part of his schizophrenic nature, or based in a new reality. As Donnie is led on a journey based in an alternate reality, a number of characters -- including his older sister Elizabeth (Maggie Gyllenhaal); his mother, Rose (Mary McDonnell); his psychotherapist, Dr. Thurman (Katharine Ross); his love interest, Gretchen Ross (Jena Malone); his conservative gym teacher Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant); a creepy motivational speaker, Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze); and more characters in his hometown of Middlesex -- become increasingly important to Donnie's story, and the tasks in this alternative universe to which he has been brought. It is because of these characters' importance that they are left with unsettling feelings at the close of the story.
The movie is about a troubled teenager named Donnie Darko who has a schizophrenic nature. He imagines a rabbit-costumed figure named Frank, who then instructs him to do certain tasks that could potentially change the future. In the movie, Donnie has daunting visions about some sort of dooms-day that affects everyone especially the people close to him. Frank then helps Donnie solve this problem and towards the end of his journey, we learn that his death was the only way these premonitions won't come true. Towards the end of the movie, the people close to him started getting déjà vu like memories which correlates to what Donnie was experiencing the whole time.
I connect to this movie, because before the day my grandfather passed away, I had a gut-wrenching thought about time stopping. This could logically be explained by my mind being influenced by the movie, but in my culture we believe in premonitions. It is also too coincidental to state that I watched such a strange movie the day before. It was the strangest experience ever because the morning of my grandpa passing, it was almost as if I couldn't see his face. It was as if it was déjà vu.