I did documentary film for a long time, and I spent a lot of time behind the camera, fervently wishing that the reality I was filming would conform to my narrative propriety. But you can't control it.
Ruth OzekiRead
People have always heard voices. Sometimes they're called shamans, sometimes they're called mad, and sometimes they're called fiction writers. I always feel lucky that I live in a culture where fiction writing is legal and not seen as pathology.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the value of creativity and imagination in society, highlighting the fine line between artistic expression and mental illness.
Ruth Ozeki's quote reflects on the historical context in which individuals who hear voices may be labeled as shamans or mad, depending on the culture and societal norms. She expresses gratitude for living in a society that permits fiction writing, where the ability to imagine and create stories is celebrated rather than stigmatized, thus encouraging artistic freedom and valuing the role of fiction in human experience.
Themes
VoicesCreativityArtFictionCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In an interview discussing the importance of storytelling.
More from Ruth Ozeki
All quotes →Fiction is an elemental force, which has the power to shape reality in its own image - or images, I should say - because reality, like light, exists not only as a single point or particle, but also as an array of possibilities.
Ruth OzekiRead
What's fascinating to me is the way that multiple stories go into creating any world - a fictional world, but certainly the world that we live in as well. Of course, I cannot control that world. I can just control the fictional world.
Ruth OzekiRead
Both life and death manifest in every moment of existence. Our human body appears and disappears moment by moment, without cease, and this ceaseless arising and passing away is what we experience as time and being. They are not separate. They are one thing, and in even a fraction of a second, we have the opportunity to choose, and to turn the course of our action either toward the attainment of truth or away from it. Each instant is utterly critical to the whole world.
Ruth OzekiRead
The American society around me looked at me and saw Japanese. Then, when I was 19, I went to Japan for the first time. And suddenly - what a shock - I realized I wasn't Japanese; they saw me as American. It was an enormous relief. Now I just appreciate being exactly in the middle.
Ruth OzekiRead
I have a pretty good memory, but memories are time beings, too, like cherry blossoms or ginkgo leaves; for a while they are beautiful, and then they fade and die.
Ruth OzekiRead
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