Monday, May 14, 2007

NPR's "This I Believe"

I have been listening to the NPR "This I Believe" collection on CDs, from the library. I am kind of afraid of belief systems. I think they can breed all kinds of ugly totalitarian thoughts and if we are run by our beliefs can keep us stuck. But after listening to most of these now, I am inspired to write my own essay of what I believe, even if only for myself. The essays are read by those who wrote them. They are from both famous and unknown, past and present.

This first one I linked is by Gloria Stinam, whom I knew had done a lot for "women's lib" but I was never personally moved by her, until this essay on "the balance between nature and nurture."

This one made me cry. It is by a woman talking about her adoption process and "the power of love to transform."

One guy wrote about believing in barbecue. It was one of the best ones. I would love to hear your beliefs... I'll get mine on here eventually.

3 comments:

Sara said...

I've heard of these. Just inspired me to journal about what I believe for a future scrapbooking page. I'm reading the new Barbara Kingsolver book too.

hahamommy said...

I've got a great book called "Articulating your Faith" ~ I did it as a group project a few times, it's pretty dang cool! (even if you skip all the UU stuff!) I'll see it as I'm packing ;) there may be some gems awaiting us both!
Anne O sent me Eat Pray Love, which she can't rave enough about and Anne Lamott loved it too - if you've not read it by Sept, I'll bring mine for ya!
I got a whole blog of "This I Believe" and still there'll never be enough floating particles on the internet to contain what's in my soul, nor enough words in the universe to describe what I know and what I've yet to remember... I believe you are a true friend. I believe these paths of ours do not cross haphazardly. I believe our gifts are great. I believe any human capable of gratitude is capable of great Joy. I believe that whomever is in charge of the craziness we call human life has the greatest, most vast sense of humor and the deepest, expansive love for each one of us. I believe samesaid *whomever* loves to be called by 1,000,000 different names every day. I believe that the heart's capacity for love is increased with each *stretching* that some mistakenly call "heartbreak" -- I believe, with my Whole Being that hearts cannot break. And that's just tonight... :) ILY!

Madeline Rains said...

wow. I am so glad that I asked. Thankyou for your response Diana. It's beautiful. you should write a whole essay (they want three min. worth) and submit it at NPR's "This I Believe" site. I would love to see those books in Sept. Love you too.

Sara, love your blog. Boston... Ahhhhh....