“In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own.”
— Anna Quindlen
All of my life I have been an avid reader. I’d be the kid always walking around with the book in his hand. In class, I’d have a novel hidden under my school books and trusted to my memory to fill in the blanks in the lessons. So much that other people did and said puzzled me that I looked to the characters in books and how the writers handled their interactions to clarify the relationships in my own life and it helped. I read a lot of non-fiction and from those I gain knowledge but it is from fiction that I tend to get the most insight. From Spider Robinson’s Callahan stories I learned about the importance of empathy and sharing both joy and pain. From Frank Herbert’s Dune novels I learned about the many layers that communication happens on and how to handle it when overwhelmed by emotions. The litany against fear (http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Litany_Against_Fear) works with all emotions. From Charles DeLint’s stories I learned much about how to overcome past pain and the sheer wonder and magick that exists in our everyday life. From these and so many others I’ve learned so much that I’ve been able to apply and share with other people and I am grateful for the light that they have shone in my world.
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Taurus by G A Rosenberg
Fractal Seeds in an Abstract Garden by G A Rosenberg
“It is quite possible—overwhelmingly probable, one might guess—that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology.”
— Noam Chomsky
I have spent most of my life in the pages of books. I have befriended characters in the stories I’ve read and had conversations with them that have lasted well into the night. They have taught me so much. Psychological case histories are all well and good yet the diagnoses always follow the case studies and then tend towards the theoretical. In a well-written book or a good story (the two overlap but aren’t identical) different characters with various mindsets interact and through the interactions of their personalities there is incalculable value to be found. Fictional characters can be at least as real as the average person you meet (and far more than most online personas).Different branches of psychology work well for various people tho in the long run too many of them adopt a “one size fits all” solution and believes that it can benefit anyone. Encountering different mirrors of yourself both in fiction and in life can accomplish a lot more if we open ourselves to the experience.
Blessings, G
Taurus by G A Rosenberg 
Fractal Seeds in an Abstract Garden by G A Rosenberg 
