Man is a dream about a shadow. But when some splendour falls upon him from God, a glory comes to him and his life is sweet.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that human existence is often a mere illusion or reflection, and true fulfillment comes from divine inspiration.
R. S. Thomas reflects on the nature of existence, positing that without a higher purpose or divine influence, human life resembles a mere shadow or fleeting dream. However, when one experiences a moment of divine glory or enlightenment, it transforms oneβs life, making it rich and profoundly sweet.
In practice
In a motivational speech highlighting the importance of purpose and higher calling.
The furies are at home in the mirror; it is their address. Even the clearest water, if deep enough can drown. Never think to surprise them. Your face approaching ever so friendly is the white flag they ignore. There is no truce with the furies. A mirror's temperature is always zero. It is ice in the veins. It's camera is an x-ray. It is a chalice held out to you in silent communion, where gaspingly you partake of a shifting identity never your own.
Imaginative truth is the most immediate way of presenting ultimate reality to a human being... ultimate reality is what we call God.
A recurring ideal, I find, is that of simplicity. At times there comes the desire to write with great precision and clarity, words so simple and moving that they bring tears to the eyes.
Poetry is that / which arrives at the intellect / by way of the heart.
I lean over you, your equal, offering you a mirror for your perfect nothingness, for your shadows which are neither light nor absence of light, for this void which contemplates. To all that which you are, and, for our language, are not, I add a consciousness. I make you experience your supreme identity as a relationship, I name you and define you. You become a delicious passivity.
I got a label because I was Hispanic and a woman and [therefore] I had to be liberal.
Evil comes to us men of imagination wearing as its mask all the virtues.
If we examine every stage of our lives, we find that from our first breath to our last we are under the constraint of circumstances. And yet we still possess the greatest of all freedoms, the power of developing our innermost selves in harmony with the moral order of the universe, and so winning peace of heart whatever obstacles we meet.
If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little.
But you see, our society is still trapped in this binary, black/white logic and that has had some very positive implications for our generation. It's had some very negative ones as well and one of the negative ones is that it creates enormous identity problems for people who have one black ancestor and all white ancestors for example.
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