| The Art of Fiction No. 183 |
| Interviewed by Jack Livings Paris Review |
Archives for 2010
An Undivided Heart makes Dreams Come True
An Undivided Heart Makes Dreams Come True.
19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 Ezekiel 11
I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. Jeremiah 32:39
One of the interesting things in these passages is that this heart, the undivided heart, singleness of heart is a gift God gives.
Give it to me, Lord.
It is truly a gift because of the immense amount of stress it saves. There is nothing worse than a divided heart and attention.
Matthew Arnold describes this in “The Scholar Gypsy”
For what wears out the life of mortal men?
‘Tis that from change to change their being rolls;
‘Tis that repeated shocks, again, again,
Exhaust the energy of strongest souls
And numb the elastic powers.
Thou hadst one aim, one business, one desire;
Free from the sick fatigue, the languid doubt,
Which much to have tried, in much been baffled, brings.
O life unlike to ours!
Who fluctuate idly without term or scope,
Of whom each strives, nor knows for what he strives,
And each half lives a hundred different lives;
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That is where blessing and breakthroughs happen–in the undivided heart, the single heart, focussed on one thing. Over the last 4 years, we have had three kettles on the hob. Though I was not really writing, I longed to be. Roy was a mathematician.And we had a family publishing business.We have now decided to reduce these things to 1, writing.And what an immense, immense relief that is. And how much blessing and breakthrough it has brought. Dreams are never brought to birth in divided personalities!!
Angela Palmer’s Ghost Forest, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.
We were all fed up of work and responsibility this evening and went to play.
We first walked about the Angela Palmer’s Ghost Forest installation near the Pitt Rivers Museum, massive monolithic, eerily beautiful trunks of trees logged in rain forests.
Interestingly, Angela Palmer wrote that Anthony Gormley said that it couldn’t be done. It was impossible. That spurred her on. Good for her! Never believe that anything is impossible. Nothing is impossible with God. Or man.!!
We then went on a long walk by the Oxford Canal, a quintessential Oxford walk, beautiful, and tranquil, with baby moorhens and ducklings, walking until 9 p.m. I think I would like to rent a houseboat at some point and glide on rivers!!
Ghost-forest, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.
Isn’t this interlinked web of roots beautiful?
God is indeed just and his justice pervades all things
God is indeed just and his justice pervades all things
I believe there is a deeper fairness, and a deeper justice which pervades things–because life on earth is, after all, God’s story.
Let’s think of the story of Joseph. He was a victim of repeated injustice–flung into a well, sold to the Midianities, rising to the top, betrayed again, flung into a dungeon, rising still higher.
And the brothers who flung him into the well eventually came and bowed before him, hungry, almost starving, while he was high and exalted.
The situations were reversed. They enjoyed home and family, while he, who provoked their jealousy, was an outcast in a foreign land.
But God, who saw everything that was happening, saw to it that they were brought low while Joseph was raised high.
I have suffered an injustice that it appears the perpetrators have got away with. But in God’s story, things are not always as they seem.
I entrust the situation into God’s hands, and am resting.
He loves justice. He will surely see that justice is done, on this earth, preferably–and, if not, in the new heaven and new earth!!
Philip Pullman on Distraction and the Writing Life
Philip Pullman
What I would like most is a spare month. I feel bad about turning down interview requests and invitations from old friends. But I have got to say no, otherwise I would never write another book. “It’s like sailing an oil tanker and navigating your way across the ocean. When someone says, “Can you come and talk about your book?” you have to stop the engine three days before you have to bring it into the harbor. And that’s what people don’t realize. They say the signing or dinner is only for an hour, but what they don’t realize is that when I get back on board the engines are cold and it takes hours nad days to bring it back on course because it has drifted.
Actually, I am driving a million tonner tanker.
Philip Pullman on Distraction and the Writing Life
Philip Pullman
What I would like most is a spare month. I feel bad about turning down interview requests and invitations from old friends. But I have got to say no, otherwise I would never write another book. “It’s like sailing an oil tanker and navigating your way across the ocean. When someone says, “Can you come and talk about your book?” you have to stop the engine three days before you have to bring it into the harbor. And that’s what people don’t realize. They say the signing or dinner is only for an hour, but what they don’t realize is that when I get back on board the engines are cold and it takes hours and days to bring it back on course because it has drifted.
Actually, I am driving a million tonner tanker.
Surya Namaskar: A complete Yoga exercise, stretching almost every muscle
Surya Namaskar: A complete Yoga exercise, stretching almost every muscle
My father took a yoga class in his late 50ies, and became absolutely obsessed with it. He continued practising until he was 89, when he died. He taught me this exercise, Surya Namaskar, which is one of the most iconic and famous yoga exercises. You see people practising it at dawn throughout the countryside, for instance, during a train journey.
It is meant to be a complete exercise, and to stretch every muscle in the body. 12 repetitions in a row are recommended as a minimum, 108 at an ideal.
My father told me to build up to it. I did not see why I should, and did 108 the first day I learnt it, aged 12, taking much of the day. The next day I was so stiff I could hardly walk.
I used to be able to do 12 in my twenties without any trouble. Now I struggle with a few.
However, it is very time efficient, as just a few reps do help to make you feel stretched and invigorated!!
The Good Books Blog ranked #27 among UK literature blogs
I was pleased to discover that this blog is ranked #27 among UK literary blogs, and 47 among UK culture blogs. See list below.
If you like, do check out my other blog, http://wanderingbetweentwoworlds.blogspot.com/ which is ranked
#20 among UK culture blogs!!
Top 30 UK literature blogs
My thanks to Wikio for giving me this preview of the latest literary blog rankings:
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We’re in good company!
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