OBSTACLES DON’T BLOCK THE PATH. THETY ARE THE PATH. ZEN PROVERB
THE true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who don’t possess it. VOLTAIRE
KARL OVE KNAUSGARD 1968–“My Struggle” “Dancing in the Dark”.
MY MEMORY IS BASICALLY VISUAL: that’s what I remember, rooms and landscapes. What I do not remember are what the people in these rooms were telling me. I never see letters or sentences when I write or read but only the images they produce.
I’M NOT INTERESTED IN THE WORDS or the meaning of the words. I’m interested in disappearing in it completely to not be aware of yourself at all. That’s the way music works for me. It’s purely emotional. It goes straight to the heart. There are no explanations. that’s just it.
UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD REQUIRES YOU TAKE A CERTAIN DISTANCE FROM IT.
BYRON KATIE 1942—“Loving What Is” “Who Would You be . . .”
An American speaker, writer & founder of a method of self-inquiry called “The Work of Byron Katie” or simply “The Work.”
UNTIL THE MIND IS OPEN THE HEART STAYS CLOSED. The open mind is the key to the open heart.
We do not mature through age. we mature in awareness.
OUR JOB IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. The job of everyone else in our life is to push our buttons.
FEAR has only two causes: the thought of losing what you have or the thought of not getting what you want.
WE CANNOT SEE WHAT WE DON’T BELIEVE.
PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the particular thoughts you use to deprive yourself of happiness.
DO YOU WANT TO MEET THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE? LOOK IN THE MIRROR.
THE WORLD is what you believe it to be and it changes as you change.
EVERY HUMAN BEING IS TRYING HIS BEST. WE’RE ALL DOING THE BEST WE CAN.
LIFE IS SIMPLE. EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR YOU, NOT TO YOU.
NO ONE CAN DISAPPOINT YOU — ONLY YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THEM CAN.
WHEN YOU REALIZE that every stressful moment you experience is a gift that points you to your own freedom, life becomes very kind.
KARL OVE KNAUSGARD: I have a longing for fiction — to try to believe in it & to disappear into it.
I THINK THE BEST LITERATURE has a core that you can’t lock to a time or place but that can generate lots of meanings & translations.
SHAME tells you when you’ve gone too far. Then you try if it’s okay to go too far. And it might be so that shame was right. you can never, never know that.
SHAMELESS actually good since it gives a kind of freedom. We consider the old functionless shame destructive. Today if you have a strong sense of shame you also have have a strong desire to overcome it. And that’s when you can write.
THE STRANGE THING about writing is that it’s so easy to write a novel. It is really easy. But it’s getting there to the point where it’s easy that’s hard. The hard part is to get there.
YOU DON’T THINK WHEN YOU PLAY MUSIC — you just try to play & be in it. It is the same for me when the writing is going really well. It’s the same kind of feeling. I’m just in it. It’s not the words, it’s not the sentences, I’m not aware of it. Then it’s good.
A PROBBLEM WITH MY NOVELS is that they, from the start, have been infantile & incredibly childish. There are childishness, stupidity, lack of wisdom, fantasies. At the same time that’s where my creativity can be found.