Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A Regular Course.

"Virginia Wolf wrote, 'Across the broad continent of a woman's life falls the shadow of a sword.' On one side of that sword, she said, there lies convention and tradition and order, where all is correct. But on the other side of that sword, if you're crazy enough to cross it and choose a life that does not follow convention, 'all is confusion.' Nothing follows a regular course. Her argument was that the crossing of the shadow of that sword may bring a more interesting existence to a woman, but you can bet it will be more perilous."  -Elizabeth Gilbert

4 comments:

Kellee said...

Ohhhh, love that!! :)

I'm going to do my dyeing this afternoon... wish me luck!! :)

Northern Girl Knits said...

And so.... she is right.

Sosae said...

I think that is beautiful. The image as well as the idea. I would venture to make the point, too, that on the side that is convention and tradition and "order", there is also a marvelous and often perilous journey. Sadly, in our modern culture, it is denied and overlooked as a 'journey' at all, and I think because it's the harder journey of the two types. The often-overwhelming love, devotion and dedication of wife-hood and mother-hood, is as difficult, beautiful and expansive as anything on the 'other side' of the sword. It takes courage beyond words, passion, and a steadfast heart, filled with endurance. I would amend the idea to be: either side of the sword holds spectacular journeys for those who dare...

Leah said...

I would say that straddling that sword is pretty darn rough too.