To live fully, outwardly and inwardly, not to ignore the external reality for the sake of the inner life, or the reverse, that's quite a task
Interpretation
True fulfillment comes from balancing outward experiences with inner reflection.
Etty Hillesum's quote emphasizes the importance of living a balanced life, where one does not neglect the external world while pursuing inner growth and vice versa. It suggests that achieving this harmony is a challenging yet essential endeavor for a fulfilling existence.
In practice
This quote is perfect for a personal development workshop focused on mindfulness and living in the moment.
Thinking gets you nowhere. It may be a fine and noble aid in academic studies, but you can't think your way out of emotional difficulties. That takes something altogether different. You have to make yourself passive then, and just listen. Re-establish contact with a slice of eternity.
The more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.
We have to fight them daily, lake fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.
Each of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others.
I think what weakens people most is fear of wasting their strength.
I really see no other solution than to turn inwards and to root out all the rottenness there. I no longer believe that we can change anything in the world until we first change ourselves. And that seems to me the only lesson to be learned.
Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living.
Though I still have no semblance of a life outside of Nine Inch Nails at the moment, I realize my goals have gone from getting a record deal or selling another record to being a better person, more well-rounded, having friends, having a relationship with somebody.
That larger story in 'Salvage the Bones' is just about survival, and I think that, in the end, there are things about this novel and about these characters' experiences that make their stories universal stories.
The saloon is a liar. It promises good cheer and sends sorrow.
Don't be dependent on anyone else. I want to go everywhere, look at, and listen to everything. You can go crazy with some of the wonderful stuff there is in life.
Ellen had said that her mother was afraid of the ocean, that it was too cold and too big. The sky was, too, thought Annemarie. The whole world was: too cold, too big. And too cruel.
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