Power and Depth!

Just as expected, Maria Popova has invaded my consciousness. Her voice, on the radio, her posts on her website Brain Pickings, have been kicking around in my head ever since I found her speaking on the radio waves Sunday morning.

She mentioned that she is always looking for writers who "lift us up," and I realized this is exactly what I have been doing most of my life, since I first discovered that I loved to read. I have piles of books, shelves and shelves of books, looking for that "lift." And this is not "happy talk," not just the "power of positive thinking," it's not a trick of the mind.

No. What I'm looking for, always, never-ending, are those books, those writers, those words that will open me, that will deepen my experience, that will enlighten and confound me, that will put me into a state of wonder, joy, and a sort of creative madness. Not easy books, easy words, but words and works of power and depth.

Works that can change and mold my consciousness.This has been a major feature of my life. The life of concentrated, determined reading. One of the great joys and missions of my life. Sitting alone with a book. Not a solitary experience. The world.