I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But who can 'master' beauty, or peace, or joy?

Kathleen Norris
I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But...
I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But...
I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But...
I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But...
About This Quote

It is gotten from the beauty of the world and from nature. It is gotten from nature, but not from a book or a philosophy, not from a teacher or a master, not from learning. It is gotten from nature itself. The beauty of nature cannot be 'learned' in the way that we learn to read and write and count and multiply.

If you admire a flower or a bird or a sunset, that beauty is there for you already. You did not learn it. You did not have to 'master' it.

You did not have to read about it or watch it over and over again in order to get to know it better."

Source: The Psalms With Commentary

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More Quotes By Kathleen Norris
  1. The Christian religion asks us to put our trust not in ideas, and certainly not in ideologies, but in a God Who was vulnerable enough to become human and die, and Who desires to be present to us in our ordinary circumstances.

  2. This is a God who is not identified with the help of a dictionary but through a relationship.

  3. I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But who can 'master' beauty, or peace, or joy?

  4. Laundry, liturgy and women's work all serve to ground us in the world, and they need not grind us down. Our daily tasks, whether we perceive them as drudgery or essential, life-supporting work, do not define who we are as women or as human beings.

  5. When I was a child, it was a matter of pride that I could plow through a Nancy Drew story in one afternoon, and begin another in the evening.. .. I was probably trying to impress the librarians who kept me supplied with books.

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