When silence is a choice, it is an unnerving presence. When silence is imposed, it is censorship.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
Our kinship with Earth must be maintained; otherwise, we will find ourselves trapped in the center of our own paved-over souls with no way out.
Interpretation
We must nurture our connection with the Earth, or risk losing our essence.
Terry Tempest Williams emphasizes the importance of our relationship with the Earth, suggesting that neglecting this bond can lead to a disconnection from our true selves. Without a healthy kinship with nature, we may become trapped in a lifeless existence, devoid of meaning and fulfillment, symbolized by the 'paved-over souls' reference.
In practice
A speaker at an environmental conference could use this quote to stress the significance of preserving natural habitats.
When silence is a choice, it is an unnerving presence. When silence is imposed, it is censorship.
The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions: Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinion? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up, trusting our fellow citizens to join us in our determined pursuit-a living democracy?
Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn, and to sing at dusk, was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.
I am slowly, painfully discovering that my refuge is not found in my mother, my grandmother, of even the birds of Bear River. My refuge exists in my capacity to love. If I can learn to love death then I can begin to find refuge in change.
How do we remain faithful to our own spiritual imagination and not betray what we know in our own bodies? The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy.
The Eyes of the Future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time.
To the lover of pure wildness Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world.
I'd like to see the giant squid. Nobody has ever seen one. I could tell you people who have spent thousands and thousands of pounds trying to see giant squid. I mean, we know they exist because we have seen dead ones. But I have never seen a living one. Nor has anybody else.
I need beaches, and blackness, and moonlit nakedness.
How I long to see among dawn flowers, the face of God.
I was at Earth Summit in Rio 20 years ago... I was only 12 years old. And when I was speaking to the U.N. I was fighting for my future.
I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
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