Grace Eventually

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

By Anne Lamott...

"At twenty-one, I still believed that if you could only get to see sunrise at Stonehenge, or full moon at the Taj Mahal, you would be nabbed by the truth. And then you would be well and able to relax and feel fully alive. But I actually knew a few true things: I had figured out that truth and freedom were pretty much the same. And that almsot everyone was struggling to wake up, to be loved, and not feel so afraid all the time. That's what the cars, degrees, booze, and drugs were about."

"I learned mostly from drugs and great books.: I was a lifelong reading girl. I already believed that there was something in me that could not be touched or destroyed that you could call my soul. And I was part of two wings of the community-the smartest, funniest alcoholics and the seekers, who had designed lives based on spiritual values and tried to live up to them. I loved equally reading the great literature and getting wasted."

(about the wailing wall) " See, somtimes, if you are lucky, you get a point where you're sick of a problem, or worn down by tinkering with it, or clutching it. And letting it go, maybe writing it down and sending it away, buys you some time and space, so maybe freedom and humor sneak in-which is probably what you were praying for all along."