A
Here are some poignant quotes from The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion:
On Grief and Loss
-
“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it.”
-
“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.”
-
“A single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty.”
On Magical Thinking
-
“I needed to be alone so that he could come back. This was the beginning of my year of magical thinking.”
-
“I know why we try to keep the dead alive: we try to keep them alive in order to keep them with us.”
-
“I could not give away the rest of his shoes. I stood there for a moment, then realized why: he would need shoes if he was to return.”
On Memory and Love
-
“We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away.”
-
“I wanted more than a night to remember.”
-
“The way you got sideswiped was by going back.”
On the Fragility of Life
-
“You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.”
-
“We imagined we knew everything the other thought, but sometimes what we imagined and what was true were two different things.”
A
Here's a summary of The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion in table format:
| Section | Summary |
|---|---|
| Author & Context | Joan Didion's memoir reflects on grief following the sudden death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and her daughter Quintana's severe illness. |
| Key Themes | - Grief and Mourning: The unpredictable, consuming nature of grief. - Magical Thinking: The irrational belief that thoughts or actions can alter reality. - Memory and Loss: The persistence of memories and the pain of absence. |
| Main Events | - John dies from a heart attack at home while having dinner. - Joan navigates the medical system and her daughter’s critical health crises. - She reflects on their life together while struggling with irrational hopes for his return. |
| Magical Thinking | Didion describes believing that her thoughts could bring John back, including keeping his shoes in case he returns. |
| Writing Style | Reflective, fragmented, and analytical—blending personal narrative with medical and psychological insights on grief. |
| Emotional Journey | From shock and denial to a slow acceptance of loss, highlighting how grief is nonlinear and deeply personal. |
| Significance | An honest exploration of bereavement, offering insight into how the mind copes with profound loss. |
A
a
Because everyone believes that it is something difficult to realize.
If two people agree, it’s cooperation.
If five people agree, it’s a belief.
If a thousand people agree, it’s a political party.
If ten thousand agree, you have a religion!
We have become a religion of believing, non-believers. This is the crux of the problem of the entire spiritual process. The heart says, YES! I CAN! Then the mind says, “Whoa, wait just a minute here, it can’t be that easy. I gotta suffer! I need my “dark night of the soul. I gotta quit my job and leave my family and go into seclusion and meditate 16 hours a day.”
It’s as though we want it to be hard. Special.
Or else, the ego wants to jump in on this and make us believe the biggest illusion of all: “I’m not worthy.” This is even worse. DOUBT, GUILT, FEAR, UNWORTHY.
What if awakening is actually not at all difficult?
Let me pose a question, “Does a baby have to realize that it loves it’s mother?” Of course not. That is how easy it is. The love and connection is already there.
All we need to do is take up a simple practice that allows us to withdraw our identification with our thoughts. We believe our thoughts are who we are. No. Our thoughts are who we think we are.
Alongside this simple practice of retraining our mind, we need just one, only one simple thing: Acceptance.
We must, absolutely must, accept ourselves for who we are. We then need to extend that to everyone else. When we combine these two things - meditation and acceptance, we rise up out of ourselves. No longer will we scrutinize our own thoughts and actions or those of others (I’m not talking about horrible deeds, those are not acceptable, I simply mean, day to day living).
The first feeling one has in an awakening experience is one of tremendous relief - like you never imagined possible. The entire myth that we call “me” is evaporated in an instant. So, fast that you can’t put up a fight. There comes a great deflation of self. You may weep. You may laugh uncontrollably. You may just be stunned to find out you are really - nobody.
Then a wonderful sense of contentment will embrace you. You are all and everything. What you thought you were before was just small and big stories that had to be supported, justified and defended. And NOW - you’re not.
This may come to you in a moment, but I believe that now it is more of a process of shedding the past and accepting all that is. We grow into this state over time. In other words, we no longer have to wait for a magical moment. Everyone can take up the practice and attain this.
To me, it’s all about living from the heart. Our heart doesn’t need to learn to love. It needs to remember that it IS love. Meditation is the tool, not the goal.
a
No comments:
Post a Comment