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.
A product can live on one great idea. An interior needs 1,000 great ideas to really live, which makes interior design a whole orchestration of this art of juxtaposition, placement, and combination.
Great buildings, like great mountains, are the work of centuries.
I have unbounded admiration for the nude. I worship it like a god.
The creative musician ... is ... the radio receiver, not the broadcasting station. His personal discipline is to improve the quality of the components, the transistors, the speakers, the alloys in the receiver itself, but never to concern himself overmuch with putting out the program. The program is there; all he has to do is receive it as far as possible.
That’s one of the nice things about writing, or any art; if the thing’s real, it just lives. All the attendant hoopla about it, the success over it or the critical rejection—none of that really matters. In the end, the thing will survive or not on its own merits. Not that immortality via art is any big deal. Truffaut died, and we all felt awful about it, and there were the appropriate eulogies, and his wonderful films live on. But it’s not much help to Truffaut.
Real fashion change comes from real changes in real life. Everything else is just decoration.
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