Reading Lamott again this week has been a treat. As usual, her wit and humor captivated me (this time on my four hour plane ride to Austin for a friend's wedding). I often find her advice on writing to be profound - easily applicable to life, not just writing. I was particularly struck by her chapter, Looking Around. Too often, we become caught up in our lives and the daily grind (myself included!), and fail to see and recognize the world going on around us. Lamott's point about not only seeing the world, but stepping outside of ourselves to view ourselves with "compassionate detachment" was particularly powerful. She goes on to state, "I honestly think in order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent. If not, why are you writing? Why are you here?"
What a great question. I want to work on reverence. Personal goal for the year.
The idea of looking at the world, including ourselves with “compassionate detachment” seems very powerful. I think it is key to be very precise on the meaning given to “compassionate” and to “detachment” in this instance. I took “compassionate” as approaching it with a “sympathetic feeling” rather than with “pity or mercy”, and “detachment” as showing “impartiality” instead of “aloofness or coldness”. Without this precision it could be quiet powerfully deleterious to view the world and ourselves with “compassionate detachment”. It is a reminder, as an author, of the importance of communicating a clear idea in words, so that the readers will be as close to the intended meaning as possible, knowing full well that rarely if ever will two people read a text and interpret it in the exact same way, much less, as the author did or intended.
ReplyDeleteBy Gustaphina