Fiction shows the external effects of internal conditions. Be aware of the tension between internal and external movement.
Interpretation
Fiction reflects how our inner thoughts and feelings influence our external reality.
This quote by Raymond Carver emphasizes the profound relationship between our internal state—our thoughts, emotions, and perceptions—and the external world we experience. Fiction serves as a lens through which we can understand this dynamic, revealing how our internal conditions manifest in our actions and interactions, highlighting the importance of self-awareness in navigating life.
In practice
In a discussion about the impact of literature on personal growth.
Woke up this morning with a terrific urge to lie in bed all day and read. Fought against it for a minute. Then looked out the window at the rain. And gave over. Put myself entirely in the keep of this rainy morning. Would I live my life over again? Make the same unforgivable mistakes? Yes, given half a chance. Yes.
I loved you so much once. I did. More than anything in the whole wide world. Imagine that. What a laugh that is now. Can you believe it? We were so intimate once upon a time I can't believe it now. The memory of being that intimate with somebody. We were so intimate I could puke. I can't imagine ever being that intimate with somebody else. I haven't been.
Every great or even every very good writer makes the world over according to his own specifications.
When I'm writing, I write every day. It's lovely when that's happening. One day dovetailing into the next. Sometimes I don't even know what day of the week it is.
It's strange. You never start out life with the intention of becoming a bankrupt or an alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar.
When you're writing fiction or poetry... it really comes down to this: indifference to everything except what you're doing... A young writer could do worse than follow the advice given in those lines.
We are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming.
There is no dusk to be, There is no dawn that was, Only there's now, and now, And the wind in the grass.
The indefinite combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations.
Television is altering the meaning of 'being informed' by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation. Disinformation does not mean false information. It means misleading information - misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information - information that creates the illusion of knowing something, but which in fact leads one away from knowing.
It is not good to talk about Zen, because Zen is nothingness... If you talk about it, you are always lying, and if you don't talk about it, no one knows it is there.
The death sentence is a barbaric act.
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