Sometimes you have to disclaim your country and inhabit another before you can return to your own. Terry Tempest Williams More Quotes by Terry Tempest Williams More Quotes From Terry Tempest Williams If you waste water, you die. Terry Tempest Williams waste dies water I can only say that I believe the Mormon Church is changing because the people inside the church are changing, particularly, the women. And if the women in the Mormon Church are changing, that means the men in the Mormon Church will change - slowly, reluctantly to be sure, but inevitably. Terry Tempest Williams men mean believe When we really need to work hard to make sure that these ideas about constructive social change culturally, ecologically and politically, come to pass. And that's only going to happen if people support the leadership, because the same power structures are still in place, and it's not in their best interests to change. Terry Tempest Williams hard-work people ideas We're human, this is our world, and I think we learn that that which is most personal is most general. And so, in a sense, we disappear into this larger world. Terry Tempest Williams disappear our-world thinking Social change can be seen as a mosaic, taking that which is broken and creating something new. Terry Tempest Williams mosaics creating broken I don't set boundaries for myself when I am writing; if I did, I would be paralyzed from the start, unable to write a word on the page. Terry Tempest Williams pages would-be writing I write from the place of inquiry. The first draft is a discovery period to see what I know and what I don't know. My task is simply to follow the words. There are surprises along the way. I just have to get it down. Call it the sculptor's clay. Terry Tempest Williams clay writing discovery What is private belongs to me alone. What is personal belongs to all of us through the shared experience of being human. Terry Tempest Williams shared-experiences being-human humans I come from a culture that embodies the need to convert others to "the truth." The Mormon Church has one of the largest missionary programs in the world. That does not interest me. Terry Tempest Williams church missionary doe Watching the spontaneous acts of kindness, compassion, and generosity, courage, and bravery in the aftermath of the Boston marathon bombings was so deeply moving. It is in our nature to want to help, to serve, to be part of something larger than ourselves. We have a desire to connect with others. We want to make a difference in the world. I would call this a spiritual longing to be whole, interrelated, interconnected. Terry Tempest Williams spiritual kindness moving Each horizon, each place holds its own evolutionary power be it the prairie or the plateaus, the mountains or the marshes at Great Salt Lake. For me, this is the nature of peace. Our task is to learn how to see it, feel it, hear it, and care for these places as our own home ground. Terry Tempest Williams mountain lakes home I can only tell where I feel most at home, which is in the erosional landscape of the red rock desert of southern Utah, where the Colorado River cuts through sandstone and the geologic history of the Earth is exposed: our home in Castle Valley. Terry Tempest Williams rocks cutting home I was extremely close with my mother and my grandmothers, we shared our lives - fully, honestly - and it was heightened as each succumbed to cancer. Little was hidden between us. No time. And what was hidden, turned inward. I made a vow to speak. Speak or die. Terry Tempest Williams inward cancer mother We write out of our humanity by writing through our direct experience. That which is most personal is most general, which becomes both our insight and protection as a writers. This is our authority as women, as human beings. Terry Tempest Williams protection humanity writing There is an unraveling, a great unraveling that I believe is occurring. Not without its pain, not without its frustration. Perhaps the fundamentalism we see within America right now is in response to these changes. We fear change, and so we cling to what is known. Terry Tempest Williams frustration pain believe This is an incredibly creative time. It is a difficult time. It is a disparaging time. A time of cultural and global transitions based on the realization that the Earth cannot support nonsustainable practices anymore. Terry Tempest Williams support creative practice I remember a phone call from a friend of mine who lives along the MacKenzie River. She said, "This is the first year in twenty that the chinook salmon have not returned." This woman knows the names of things. This woman is committed to a place. And she sounded the alarm. Terry Tempest Williams phones names years It was fascinating listening to this wonderful biologist, Sarah Allen Miller, speak of her relationship to these beings for 20 years. Terry Tempest Williams speak listening years Community is extremely intimate. When we talk about humor, I love that you know when you're home because there is laughter in the room, there is humor, there is shorthand. That is about community. Terry Tempest Williams laughter community home I can't imagine a secular life, a spiritual life, an intellectual life, a physical life. I mean, we would be completely wrought with schizophrenia, wouldn't we? Terry Tempest Williams intellectual spiritual mean
