All forms of art are consciousness expanders, and I am convinced that they will take us further, and more consciously, than drugs.
Interpretation
Art enhances our awareness and understanding of life more profoundly than substances like drugs.
In this quote, Madeleine L'Engle expresses her belief that art has the power to expand our consciousness and enrich our lives. She argues that engaging with various forms of art can lead to deeper insights and heightened awareness, potentially offering greater benefits than the temporary experiences provided by drugs. This highlights the transformative potential of creativity and its ability to elevate our perception of reality.
In practice
During a presentation on the impact of art on society, one might say this quote to emphasize the transformative power of creativity.
Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.
George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.
If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
I believe that the reason why I love painting so much is that it forces one to be objective. There is nothing I hate more than sentimentality.
I love playing the Fillmore. I love the walk from the hotel and climbing up those old, iron stairs that lead to the stage. I imagine Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors and all those other great bands climbing those same stairs.
There's nothing worse than sitting down to write a novel and saying, 'Well, okay, I'm going to do something of high artistic worth.'
When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived.
Bad Gardens copy, good gardens create, great gardens transcend. What all great gardens have in common are their ability to pull the sensitive viewer out of him or herself and into the garden, so completely that the separate self-sense disappears entirely, and at least for a brief moment one is ushered into a nondual and timeless awareness. A great garden, in other words, is mystical no matter what its actual content.
Art is a habit-forming drug. Art has absolutely no existence as veracity, as truth. People always speak of it with this great, religious reverence, but why should it be so revered?
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