Despair shows us the limit of our imagination. Imaginations shared create collaboration, collaboration creates community, and community inspires social change. Terry Tempest Williams More Quotes by Terry Tempest Williams More Quotes From Terry Tempest Williams That is the wonderful ecological mind that Gregory Bateson talks about - the patterns that connect, the stories that inform and inspire us and teach us what is possible Terry Tempest Williams stories mind inspire I feel that within the Mormon culture there is a tremendous amount of fear - of women's voices, of questioning of authority, and ultimately of our own creativity. Terry Tempest Williams creativity voice culture There are things within the culture that absolutely enrage me, and for me it is sacred rage. But it's not just peculiar to Mormonism - it's any patriarchy that I think stops, thwarts, or denies our creativity. Terry Tempest Williams creativity peculiar thinking I am a Mormon woman, I am not orthodox. It is the lens through which I see the world. I hear the Tabernacle Choir and it still makes me weep. Terry Tempest Williams choir lenses world Having lived in Utah all of my life, I can tell that in many ways I know of no place more lonely, no place more unfamiliar. When I talk about how it is both a blessing and a burden to have those kinds of roots, it can be terribly isolating, because when you are so familiar, you know the shadow. Terry Tempest Williams utah lonely blessing Our family has made its livelihood from the land, digging trenches for hundreds of miles cross-country. You could say this is a real paradox, to destroy the land, yet love it at the same time. This is a typical story of Westerners, how we build community through change. Terry Tempest Williams land real country I have a sequence to my creative life. In spring and fall, I am above ground and commit to community. In the summer, I'm outside. It is a time for family. And in the winter, I am underground. Home. This is when I do my work as a writer - in hibernation. I write with the bears. Terry Tempest Williams summer spring fall My family lives all around me. We see each other daily. It's very, very complicated. I think that families hold us together and they split us apart. Terry Tempest Williams splits together thinking I think we are living a life without specificity, and then our lives become abstractions. Terry Tempest Williams specificity our-lives thinking Revolution is not something outside of us, but inside us, begging for our engagement every single day. Terry Tempest Williams begging engagement revolution I think my heart breaks daily living in Salt Lake City, Utah. But I still love it. And that is the richness, the texture. Terry Tempest Williams lakes heart thinking I believe capitalism will eventually be replaced by a communitarian ethic where the rights and care of all beings will be taken into consideration, not just the greed of a corporate few. Terry Tempest Williams taken rights believe Hope is not attached to outcomes but is a state of mind. Terry Tempest Williams outcomes states mind Hope radiates outward from the center of our concerns. Hope dares us to stare the miraculous in the eye and have the courage not to look away. Terry Tempest Williams dare eye looks I think we have powerful role-models among us in the American West. Certainly the Hopis, a timeless civilization that understands sustainability and what that means about living in harmony, in tandem with the natural world. We have much to learn from them, and they will survive us, I feel certain about that. Terry Tempest Williams powerful mean thinking To me, we are in the midst of such broad-scale destruction, both psychically and physically, that the only thing that can threaten the grip, loosen the hold, of economism, I believe, is a discussion of the sacred born out of our regard and compassion and intelligence for the earth and the creatures on the earth. Terry Tempest Williams compassion earth believe I think about the poet Rainer Maria Rilke who said that it's the questions that move us, not the answers. As a writer, I believe that it's our task, our responsibility, to hold the mirror up to social injustices that we see and to create a prayer of beauty. The questions serve us in that capacity. Terry Tempest Williams prayer believe moving I love the ordered mind of history because it takes us out of the chaos, momentarily, and says, "Ah, so this is the story we are engaged in." Terry Tempest Williams chaos stories mind I recently got back from Hiroshima and it was fascinating to me how the Japanese accommodate this paradox. We were talking about this word aware, which on the page looks like "aware," which speaks to both the pain and the beauty of our lives. Being there, what I perceived was that this is a sorrow that is not a grief that one forgets or recovers from, but it is a burning, searing illumination of love for the delicacy and strength of our relations. Terry Tempest Williams illumination pain grief I think we're skating on surfaces. I know it in my own life - and I think that is where this frustration comes in. It's not the place we want to be, but it's the place our society requires that we be. There is no fulfillment there. So we become numbed, we become drugged, we become less than we are. And I think that we know that. Terry Tempest Williams skating frustration thinking
