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It might be a good idea if, like the White Queen, we practiced believing six impossible things every morning before breakfast, for we are called on to believe what to many people is impossible. Instead of rejoicing in this glorious "impossible" which gives meaning and dignity to our lives, we try to domesticate God, to make his might actions comprehensible to our finite minds.
Madeleine L'Engle
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote encourages embracing the belief in the impossible, suggesting that doing so enriches our lives and understanding.

Madeleine L'Engle suggests that, akin to the White Queen's whimsical belief in impossible things, we should cultivate a mindset that allows for the acceptance of the extraordinary and unexplainable aspects of life. This practice not only enhances our appreciation for life's mysteries but challenges us to recognize that our limited understanding often restricts the divine and the remarkable, urging us to accept the grandeur beyond our comprehension.

Themes

BeliefImpossibleFaithUnderstandingLifeMystery

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about creativity and innovation.

More from Madeleine L'Engle

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.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
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.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
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.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
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.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
Madeleine L'EngleRead

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