It Is The Imagination That Gives Shape

Eden Is A Conversation. It Is The Conversation Of The Human With The Divine. And It Is The Reverberations Of That Conversation That Create A Sense Of Place. It Is Not A Thing, Eden, But A Pattern Of Relationships, Made Visible In Conversation. To Live In Eden Is To Live In The Midst Of Good Relations, Of Just Relations Scrupulously Attended To, Imaginatively Maintained Through Time. Altogether We Call This Beauty.

For So Many Centuries, The Exchange Of Gifts Has Held Us Together. It Has Made It Possible To Bridge The Abyss Where Language Struggles.

To Allow Mystery, Which Is To Say To Yourself, 'there Could Be More...things We Don't Understand,' Is Not To Damn Knowledge....it Is To Permit Yourself An Extraordinary, Freedom: Someone Else Does Not Have To Be Wrong In Order That You Might Be Right...this Tolerance For Mystery Invigorates The Imagination; And It Is The Imagination That Gives Shape To The Universe.

Real Beauty Is So Deep You Have To Move Into Darkness To Understand It.

If I Were To Offer Any Advice To Young Writers, It Would Be This: Be Discriminating And Be Discerning About The Work You Set For Yourself. That Done, Be The Untutored Traveler, The Eager Reader, The Enthusiastic Listener. Put What You Learn Together Carefully, And Then Write Thoughtfully, With Respect Both For The Reader And Your Sources.