For me, so many art forms capture this beckoning, this reach for true nature, essence, paring away all the layers that we have accumulated from families, cultures, lifetimes…
The films, books, artists and muscians I tend to gravitate towards, always open an edge of authenticity, truth – not necessarily pretty or easy – about the myriad ways we reach, sometimes find, keep going, towards an acceptance of what Soul is, what love is, who we are alongside all the other entities and beings we exist with. I’ll be sharing films, poetry, art and music over time and Nele also – amongst other inspirations!
This month, as the Winter solstice and festive season is upon us, one of my favourite Soul resources beckons me close, the fire is lit, space opens up for that pile of books that is by my chair, my bed, my desk. Someone might ask me if there’s anything I want for Christmas – it’s inevitably a book!
Reading opens my senses, opens me up to different worlds, perspectives, different beauties, different terrors, different ways of being…a good book lights me up, excites me, inspires me…I get ideas for classes and workshops often, through the words, ideas and experiences of others, written onto their pages.
My books are like markers and memories of my life, many of them have travelled with me for many years, since I was a kid, from backpack to backpack, suitcase to suitcase, home to home.
Currently reading War and Peace, Tolstoy – page turner, so good!
In my book pile to read, amongst others:
The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
Citizen Poet; Eavan Boland edited by Jody Allen Randolph
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Earthsea Quartet By Ursula Le Guin (a re-read)
Here’s a photo of three of my bookshelves –
“Hold a book in your hand and you’re a pilgrim at the gates of a new city.” ― Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
