"One only understands the things that one tames.". . . "What is essential is invisible to the eye.". . . "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.". . . "but the eyes are blind, one must look with the heart."- Antoine de St. Exupery, The Little Prince
We live in community and community thrives on a foundation of interpersonal, caring connection. In Hebrew, the word for responsibility is “achrayut,” from a root meaning- other. Responsibility is the thread that binds us together.
The author reminds us to open our hearts to each other. This, he says, is the way to create that connection, and, ideally, to be moved to reach out. When we feel each other’s needs, each other’s longings, each other’s hurts and joys, we feel a sense of responsibility.
Why do we avoid taking responsibility? We are afraid, we rationalize, we are defensive, we look for a scapegoat. To explain a quote with another quote, Rabbi Elya Kaplan writes, “An unceasing inner gaze toward one’s responsibility leads to remembrance, remembrance leads to concern, concern leads to confidence, confidence leads to strength and strength leads to
serenity and wholeness, internally and externally, in thought and
in deed.”
About this series-
I love words. I love when a word exactly captures the moment, the feeling. How it precisely describes something that you experienced but didn’t know exactly how to express. It’s like a warm bath or a deeply satisfying meal.
And beyond that- a collection of words. A deeply insightful phrase, thought-provoking and uplifting. A quote to remember.
I started collecting quotes when I was 16 years old. (1972) I’m 68 now, as I write these words, (2024), and there are 472 quotes in my collection. At this precise moment.
That’s not really that many over the course of 52 years. I guess I am fairly discriminating. Sometimes years can go by and the collection lays dormant. In other years there is a great harvest of quotes.
These are not necessarily famous quotes, things you’ll often hear referenced. For the most part, they simply represent words that I read that made me stop for a moment to meditate and bask in their impact. And quotes I enjoy reading and re-reading and quoting myself!
These quotes represent the evolution of my thinking over the course of 52 years. I look forward to pondering what it is that made me find each one meaningful enough to save.
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