Tuesday 6 December 2011

George MacDonald Has Just Summed Up OCD - While I was browsing through the land of fae.

I just happened to start reading this book 'Phantastes, a Faerie Romance for Men and Women' by George MacDonald and it has really struck a chord, has me hooked. It has become an addictive read but one that I have to read slowly so I can savour every letter of every word of every sentence of every paragraph. I just love it and I just wanted to quote one of my favourite few lines in the book, and just in case you would like to know more about the book you can click HERE and if you would like to download it to read for free click HERE as it is part of Project Gutenberg which is just without a doubt amazing and I wish that books were available like this when I was younger!

'My spirits rose as I went deeper; into the forest; but I could not regain my former elasticity of mind. I found cheerfulness to be like life itself - not to be created by any argument. Afterwards I learned, that the best way to manage some kinds of pain fill thoughts, is to dare them to do their worst; to let them lie and gnaw at your heart till they are tired; and you find you still have a residue of life they cannot kill. So, better and worse, I went on, till I came to a little clearing in the forest.'

9 comments:

  1. Sounds like he understood the concept of flooding the mind until it is bored of that thot or memory.

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  2. I am nearly finished reading this one book by him and I am just in love with his work! I think that he was ahead of his time like many great writers and so much from this one book has spoken out and his paragraph after paragraph is so poetic, so inspiring and so visual! I wish that I found him sooner and I am left with wanting more and I know that the day that I read everything by him will be a sad day but I cannot go the rest of my life without him, as mad as that may sound!

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  3. That was amazingly beautiful.

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  4. Maggie- are you all okay? I saw on the news last night about the terrible weather in Scotland!

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  5. We are alright here in Glasgow, thankfully! The weather was just awful yesterday, very strong winds, trees seem to be down along the motorways and the rail lines so there has been a lot of disruption! The ones in Nicks work were sent home early to be sure they could get home safely and that was such a relief, I was so worried. I don't think that I have ever showered or did laundry so quickly with the fears of losing electricity and I even went as far as filling up the bathtub with cold water just in case, I figured, I would rather empty the tub with no use then to be caught without it ... and funny enough the cat wondered in there in the dark and jumped in and with the fright he had we had water everywhere! The poor thing but I don't think that I have laughed that much in a long long time!
    There are some homes without power further up north until the weekend, I hope they will all be alright because the weather is pretty chilly.

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  6. That is a great quote! I particularly like the line "I found cheerfulness to be like life itself - not to be created by any argument." Although I seem to keep arguing with myself about how I should be more cheerful. :) Anyway, I wanted to say I really enjoy your blog, and I hope you have a great holiday and New Year. Best wishes for continued healing. And keep on writing!
    Adventures in Anxiety Land

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  7. I am glad that you liked the quote and thank you for the lovely comments. I hope that you have a great holiday and new year too. Let us hope that the new year brings on new determination to kick ocds butt for all of us!

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  8. Maggie- I'm glad you all are alright!

    It is so scary to be in a weather emergency, isn't it?

    That really is too funny about your cat!

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  9. What a beautiful quote! Thank you for sharing it!

    I'm glad that you are alright and that the storm has passed.

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