Most children tell themselves stories in which they figure as powerful figures, enjoying the pleasures not only of the adult world as they conceive it but of a world of wonders unlike dull reality.
Interpretation
Children create imaginative worlds where they feel empowered and experience joy beyond reality.
Gore Vidal's quote highlights the extraordinary capacity of children to construct narratives in which they assume roles of power and enjoyment. These stories serve as a form of escapism, allowing them to explore a realm filled with wonders and excitement that starkly contrasts with the often mundane or constrained nature of adult life. This imaginative play is crucial for their development, inspiring creativity and an appreciation for the fantastical aspects of existence.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of creativity in education, one might quote this to emphasize the value of imaginative play.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
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If truth were not boring, science would have done away with God long ago. But God as well as the saints is a means to escape the dull banality of truth.
What a big book, captain, might be made with all that is known!" "And what a much bigger book still with all that is not known!
For those who have obtained unobstructed knowledge of Self, the world is seen merely as a bondage causing imagination.
When you look at food as an ethical issue in the Christian tradition, you don't find very much about it. You don't find, as you do in the Jewish or Islamic or Hindu traditions, a lot of restrictions saying you can eat this but you can't eat that.
It's never a question of skin pigmentation. It's never a question of just culture or sexual orientation or civilization. It's what kind of human being you're going to choose to be from your mama's womb to the tomb and what kind of legacy will you leave.
Can you see God? You haven't seen him? I've never seen the wind. _x000D_ I see the effects of the wind, but I've never seen the wind. There's a mystery to it.
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