"Envy me my hyperventilation! I haven't calmed down since I was 3. Have you fallen in love with something? If not, it's time to search. Go to the library. Take the books off the shelf and fall in love! Find something so wonderful you never want to quit. I don't want you to be at peace, I want you to be excited!"
Cheers, Translator

Good quote. Here's a like-minded one I like:

"...if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. . . For the first thing a writer should be is -- excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches . . ."

From: "The Joy of Writing", ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING. Ray Bradbury.

This is one of the "lessons" from Bradbury, I think -- live life with passion and enthusiasm. That is where joy is. That is where life is. That is where humanity is.

Finally, something we both agree on!
Cheers, Translator

heres a Groucho one!

"Outside a dog, books are the best things in the world. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."

[This message has been edited by Ettil (edited 04-17-2004).]

Treading on dangerous ground here, the one I seem to quote most often is "Something Wicked This Way Comes," and one of my favorite parts is Charles Halloway's talk with the boys, Will and Jim, in Chapters 38-40.

Here is a quote: "First things first. Let's bone up on history. If men had wanted to stay bad forever, they could have, agreed? Agreed. _Did_ we stay out in the fields with the beasts? No. In the water with the barracuda? No. Somewhere we let go of the hot gorilla's paw. Somewhere we turned in our carnivore's teeth and started chewing blades of grass. We been working mulch as much as blood, into our philosophy, for quite a few lifetimes. Since then we measure ourselves up the scale from apes, but not half so high as angels."

For such opinions Bradbury has been accused or acclaimed, depending on who is talking, of being a humanist. When I asked him about the term, he replied, "It's a convenient label." He didn't seem to strongly identify with it or take it seriously. Some fundamentalist Christian groups are actually afraid Secular Humanism is an organized religion set with the goal of taking over society and removing God-centered religion. I wouldn't accuse Ray of such an agenda, but he does certainly have a different "take" on things. I belong to a Christian denomination, an unorthodox one very removed from the three (or more) deitied, Bible-thumping, blood-atonement centered ones, but still quite grim in certain respects. (All humans are from themselves essentially evil and all good comes from the Lord.)

A pastor of this faith and his wife, who had never heard of Ray Bradbury, were here Sunday and asked me what grabbed me so about Ray's work. I didn't quite have the guts to say that it somehow offered a more colorful and hopeful picture than usually found in most Sunday Schools or churches, without, for the most part, directly contradicting Christian teaching. (Which, in some respects, Ray's work does.) Thing is, I attend a VERY open, joyful, one would say somewhat liberal, Protestant church, and identify with an even less orthodox church (for the record, I am a member of neither) and yet it isn't enough! I STILL need Ray's outlook to "liven" my own world, and his philosophy IS just as important as anything found in the Bible or other religious works! This is where things approach scary/dangerous territory, but you asked for favorite quotes or words to live by and there it is.

The reason I cling so to Ray's viewpoint is in large measure precisely because of Ray himself, and people like him. Some of the most wonderful people I have met: Ray, his best friend Forrest J. Ackerman, a best friend of mine, and, I just learned, a lady I sit by in church every Sunday, are decidedly NOT Christian and not necessarily even believers in a Deity even outside the realms of Christian faith! I knew this lady's sons were not Christians, and that her ex-husband barely qualified (from statements of his I would say not) despite being an ordained minister, but I had NO idea about her until we attended "The Passion of the Christ" together. You REALLY can't tell, even with people you know fairly well! I know if I love them, God must love them better, yet it's a puzzle to me how they can exist in a "framework" entirely outside my own and seem to be getting along as well, or better, than I do! Resigning the Christian faith is not an option for me, but I do experience questioning and uneasy feelings regarding this issue all the time!

Hello Dandelion,

Get your pastor a copy of "A Chapbook for Burnt-Out Priest, Rabbis and Ministers".
A number of clergyman have over the years, stated that they used some of Mr B's shorts, in there lectures.

Take care
Patrick

If I do get a copy, I have to get three! I don't have a copy myself, and I have TWO pastors--the visiting one from my "real" church and the one in my town from the church I actually attend. The pastor's wife was just a tad bit jealous when the boy who mows our lawn came over and I said, "Oh, here's a boy from our church." She was like, "What do you mean, 'our church'?" She knew he didn't go to HER church! When she asked if Ray Bradbury wrote on religious subjects, I had to say certainly yes, but in an unconventional manner!

My favorite quote of Rays is "God promises, but you got to work". In seven words he sums up faith,and hope!

The written word is so powerfull. Only a writer can inspire such fervor. There are Star Wars junkies, as well as trekkies. But it is the written word of a handfull of individuals that sparked the American revolution. And it was the written word that allowed civilization to go from starving farmers into an idustrial complex.

Here's to Ghutenberg, and every one else that made literacy possible.

And, Dandelion, what's the big deal with people not believing in your framework? Why does it strike you as strange?

Because even with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (which in my particular framework are one and the same) or in other words, with the help of God and all his angels, many days I can still barely summon up enough hope to continue existing. I simply can't understand people who seem to go on quite cheerfully with none of the above! Where is their "excuse" for survival? I enjoy and appreciate listening to them but struggle to understand their point of view.

It's hard, but if you fundamentally believe that people are good, then it's not as bad as you might think...after, of course, you get past the major depressions and lack of belonging you experiance after you denounce religion and god.
Cheers, Translator

Dandelion,

I understand your angst and I've had some of the same questions over the years myself. Not to get too metaphysical, but I've come to my belief in God over the years through some personal tribulation, alot of introspection, trying to look a little deeper beneath the surface of both the good and bad things in the world and in Life, and positive things that have happened in my Life that I know I could not have influenced through my own hand or by chance.

To me, any time that religion and the teachings of the Bible are presented in a terrifying, grim, and frightening scenario, only half of the story is being told and the presentor is doing a great diservice to his audience/congregation. Christianity and the Bible present some grim and frightening scenarios (as do most of the religions of the world), but it also presents alot of hope. Yes, God is presented as all powerful, all knowing, all good, and inaccesible by mortal Man, and Man is presented as weak and sinful, but Jesus is presented as the "bridge" between the two. To me, no other written word on Earth presents pure Love better than 1st Corinthians.

It's easy and natural to think that those who exist outside of your or my "framework" fare better than you or I. But, we only see them from the outside. A friend of mine is such a person. His father, who I knew well, died several years ago. My friend (David), when he talks about his father, will not refer to him as such. He will refer to him as his sister's father. David's not particularily religious and yes, he does seem to be succesful, upbeat, and hugely hedonistic. My assesment (probably wrong)is that his shallowness and denial will hit him in "a big way" somewhere down the line. I'm not putting Ray, Forrest, or any of your aquaintances in this category, but just saying that what we see on the outside and what we hear from our friends and aquaintances are not always what really exists "down deep".

I don't know what Ray's religious beliefs are but, to me, Ray is an example of the rich tapestry that God unrolls. Only late in Life have I started to appreciate Art, in all it's forms. Paintings, sculptures, and the written word. Ray's writings, although they may not profess a belief in a Higher Being, have the innate ability to inspire people to the positive, beautiful, better things in Life, much as seeing a beautiful painting.

I hope I haven't come across as proselytizing, that's not my intent. Just offering an insight from someone who has had (and still has) some of the same questions.

Minn8918 (also known as PrairieMan)

minn8918

Had the most rare priviledge to sit down with Ray a few weeks ago at his home...and discuss briefly the first part of Ephesians 1, where it says that God, before He created the stars, the world, and the universe...already knew us...and planned, in His love, to entwine us into the character of his Son, so we would be pleasing to Him. This idea of God already knowing us produced a quick...
"I don't believe that"...from Ray.

It's this on-going mystery, of how the Holy Spirit can work in someone's life so thoroughly...and yet the Holy Spirit does not reveal Himself to that particular person, specifically Ray.

Oh, by the way, the 'Unitarians' consider Ray one of their own...and Ray has spoken many times in 'Unitarian' churches....

"'O Lord,' said the hidden voice, 'let us receive those gifts of love that shape and change and move our lives to perfection. May others see in us only what we see in them, perfection and beauty beyond telling. Amen.'"--from Driving Blind, same-named story. Thought it was appropriate to this topic/discussion. Also, please pardon my tardiness. When I got my first computer a year ago, this was the first site I visited. I've visited many times since, but I'm brand new at posting/forums, and this is the only forum I've ever visited--in short, if I violate any unsaid protocols or mess up in general, please let me know. I greatly value the insight offered here.

To those of you who've had sit-down discussions with Ray--how fortunate you are. I was lucky enough to meet him, shake his hand at a lecture/book signing at U of I Urbana/Champaign in October '98. I tried to say thank you, but choked. He lip-read the silence that came out.

Finally, regarding higher beliefs, Ray's writings always reinforced R.W. Emerson for me. Emerson, a Methodist minister if I recall correctly, seemed to believe that "good" was inside, trying to get out, rather than an outside force trying to get in. Of course, as a reader, I bring my own baggage to each party. Sorry if I overspoke; thanks for the opportunity.

In high school I adopted this as my mantra.

"School got in the way of my education".

Consequently, I "earned" my G.E.D. at the age of thirty.