Thursday, September 18, 2008

More free advice from a very sick blogger...


Do you ever feel confused, like your life is flying past you, without a lot of clarity on where it's going? This exerpt from the wonderful book My Grandfather's Blessings by Rachel Naomi Remen, a cancer physician and counselor to chronically ill patients for more than 20 years, offers some insights into life and its randomness...
In 1998 Commonweal, the center at which I work, installed a labyrinth exactly like the one that has been in the cathedral at Chartres since 1300...Walking the labyrinth is deceptive. At the beginning one seems to be heading directly for the center when one is actually farthest away from it...Walking the labyrinth causes you to confront the world of illusion, the difference between our hard-edged perception of how the world works and how the world works. It can be a humbling experience...Could events [in my life] that seemed meaningless, or even wasteful, be taking me to a destination as surely as the twisting and turning path I had just followed? Perhaps my path only seemed random because I was still on it. At the end, from the center, would I someday see life as complete and whole and recognize a hidden direction and pattern that redeemed loss and failure and pain and utterly changed their meaning and value? Often it is only as a life becomes complete that the pattern which it upholds it, its underlying meaning, can become visible. (p.50)

2 comments:

Sacha Bikhazi said...

Emily, I love you so much. This blog is wonderful!

Tina said...

Emily, I love that quote and I believe with all my heart that it is true! I am so proud of you for doing this blog. I know it will help you and many others out there who have a chronic illness. I love you!!!