Tea at Trianon: How To Use Writing As A Meditation Technique

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, June 7, 2019

How To Use Writing As A Meditation Technique

This can all apply to mental prayer. From The Creative Penn:

Very simply, meditation is the practice of focus, loss of focus, and return to focus. Traditionally this means focusing on one thing like the breath, a mantra, sensations, sound, or a repetitive activity, and then going through the process of focus, loss of focus, and return to focus. When meditating, your mind will wander to all manner of random thought. This is frustrating, but it is very normal. Meditation is an exercise to become aware when you have lost focus and to practice returning to the object of your focus. The only way to get better is to practice. And practice. Just like getting better at the piano and learning a new language. Exercising and strengthening this ability to focus and return to focus is beneficial to almost everyone, but particularly if you are a writer with word count objectives and book completion goals where you need frequent, long periods of focus. (Read more.)