Artistically: Artists always move forward, somehow finding ways through the sickness of the times (and the times are always, in some way or ways, sick) into newness and awareness and meaningfulness. Find yourself an artist to love.
Poetically: I have attended one poetry reading so far this year, and been inspired. Next week, I think I'll be discussing poetry and the process of getting it onto the page with a friend, so the year is healthy in terms of the practice of this art.
Personally: Reading continues to open my eyes. I just re-read one of my favorite novels, Persuasion by Jane Austen, and this time through I zeroed in on this sublime and subtle truth: one of the characters becomes conscious of the difference "between the steadiness of principle and the obstinacy of self-will, between the darings of heedlessness and the resolution of a collected mind."
The resolution of a collected mind! I hope my stubbornness is of that order, though I fear it is more "the obstinacy of self-will." But now at least I am aware. And that brings us back to the political, for what better description is there of all that is wanting in our political leaders than that very lack of discernment of the difference "between the steadiness of principle and the obstinacy of self-will, between the darings of heedlessness and the resolution of a collected mind."
Onward we go.
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