I like this quote!

I like this quote by Einstein. It might even answer my previously posted question!

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
..................................... Albert Einstein

We can read it the other way: If one draws freely upon imagination, then one could be called an artist. If you are coming up with your own ideas using your own power of creativity, then you can then be called a writer.

Heading to the Shore

This will be my last post before writing group tomorrow and the start of our vacation, Wednesday. I know, it seems like I just started getting back into my blog, and I'm leaving already! Well, I hope to bring back many ideas for my writing, and I need the chance to relax and kick back for a while.

As I've been contemplating the idea of origins this week, I would like to end the week with this question, which I'm not sure has an answer:

When does one begin to call themselves a writer? Is it at the moment that the pen meets the paper for the first time? Does one have to wait until they are published so as not to be thought a fraud? I, myself, have always had trouble with this. Whenever I do introduce myself to someone as a writer, I immediately want to take it back. But, it's funny the reaction I get from people. I immediately am thought of as someone so cool (for the first time in my life, I might add.). People get so excited and immediately want to know what I write about and whether anything they do will appear somewhere in something that I create.

Still, within all this glory, I still feel it is too early. I guess it brings out my vulnerability, just like every time I press the "Publish Post" button on this blog!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderfully exciting spring break and is able to enjoy the sunshine for a little bit, at the very least. I'll be back to post again very soon.

The Life of a Clergyman

I’ve often thought it would be great to be a priest. What a wonderful existence, to be present at all of life’s greatest moments, to speak words of meaning to gatherings of people united for a common purpose. Some priests are lucky enough to run a school, and, if goodness is what is behind it, to experience the growth and learning of children and be there as they enter the world.

We seem to only remember priests at those important rites of passage: births, deaths, marriage, coming of age, and our unburdening of a sin that we are unable to forget. They are always there to observe us and help us through time’s transcendence, whenever we wish to reach for their help and guidance. They are at once passive, yet incredibly active in their passivity.

I find the lives of priests and writers to be very similar. We are both present at life’s greatest transcending moments. We don’t live conventional lives caught within the daily grind. We are somehow isolated and exempt from conventional existence. We are allowed to be unique and different. We live a monastic sort of existence. We observe people for who they are inside--our essence, our human foibles, sufferings, our love, our struggle to come to terms with the life we have been given. We are both searching for that ultimate spiritual experience, that moment of perfect transcendence.

I don’t dream of being a priest anymore. I don’t have to. After all, I couldn’t be one anyway. And being a nun is a whole different ballgame.