Some Quotes from THE TELLING by Ursula K. Le Guin
These are some quotes from The Telling that stood out to me as I was reading it a few nights ago. There were many other notable passages in the book as well but these are just some that I happened to copy and paste here that night so that I would remember them. I've gone back and added a few of my thoughts about a couple of them as well.
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She felt a wave of hatred for him that frightened her. She turned and went on, telling herself that she should be sorry for him. He was sincere. Most bigots are sincere. The stupid, arrogant fool, trying to tell her that religion was dangerous! But he was merely parroting Dovzan propaganda.
Le Guin, Ursula K. (2000-09-11). The Telling (Hainish Cycle Book 8) (pp. 93-94). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
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In my mother's time, all children could read. They could begin to read the story. The telling never stopped. In the forests and the mountains, in the villages and the cities, they were telling the story, telling it aloud, reading it aloud. Yet it was all secret then too. The mystery of the beginning, of the roots of the world, the dark. The grave, yoz. Where it begins.
Le Guin, Ursula K. (2000-09-11). The Telling (Hainish Cycle Book 8) (p. 97). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
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One of the historians of Darranda said: To learn a belief without belief is to sing a song without the tune. A yielding, an obedience, a willingness to accept these notes as the right notes, this pattern as the true pattern, is the essential gesture of performance, translation, and understanding. The gesture need not be permanent, a lasting posture of the mind or heart; yet it is not false. It is more than the suspension of disbelief needed to watch a play, yet less than a conversion. It is a position, a posture in the dance. So Sutty's teachers, gathered from many worlds to the city Valparaíso de Chile, had taught her, and she had had no cause to question their teaching.
Le Guin, Ursula K. (2000-09-11). The Telling (Hainish Cycle Book 8) (pp. 97-98). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
[The Telling is:] an enormous interlocking system of symbols, metaphors, correspondences, theories, cosmology, cooking, calisthenics, physics, metaphysics, metallurgy, medicine, physiology, psychology, alchemy, chemistry, calligraphy, numerology, herbalism, diet, legend, parable, poetry, history, and story.
Le Guin, Ursula K. (2000-09-11). The Telling (Hainish Cycle Book 8) (p. 98). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
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She felt a wave of hatred for him that frightened her. She turned and went on, telling herself that she should be sorry for him. He was sincere. Most bigots are sincere. The stupid, arrogant fool, trying to tell her that religion was dangerous! But he was merely parroting Dovzan propaganda.
Le Guin, Ursula K. (2000-09-11). The Telling (Hainish Cycle Book 8) (pp. 93-94). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
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Earlier in the day on which I read the passage containing the above quotation, I overheard my mom talking on the phone to a relative, bewailing the state of the world, our country, and the young people of today from a Conservative bigot standpoint. She was very angry and I found myself getting very angry as I listened. I also felt a wave of hatred that frightened me, like Sutty in The Telling, while listening to my mom say these things. I also felt that I should feel some sympathy for my mom because she really believes these things that seem absurd to me. I gained some peace, understanding, and identification for the situation and gratitude for these words from the book. This section of the book doesn't get into people's reasons for believing propaganda and being bigoted about their beliefs but in my mom's case, anyway, believing in this sort of propaganda ultimately stems from a desire for a happy afterlife at least to some extent, though it doesn't seem that simple. Having had a viewpoint similar to hers once, I can speak from experience that, at least for me, it boiled down to that. _________________________________________________________________________________
In my mother's time, all children could read. They could begin to read the story. The telling never stopped. In the forests and the mountains, in the villages and the cities, they were telling the story, telling it aloud, reading it aloud. Yet it was all secret then too. The mystery of the beginning, of the roots of the world, the dark. The grave, yoz. Where it begins.
Le Guin, Ursula K. (2000-09-11). The Telling (Hainish Cycle Book 8) (p. 97). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
_________________________________________________________________________________
One of the historians of Darranda said: To learn a belief without belief is to sing a song without the tune. A yielding, an obedience, a willingness to accept these notes as the right notes, this pattern as the true pattern, is the essential gesture of performance, translation, and understanding. The gesture need not be permanent, a lasting posture of the mind or heart; yet it is not false. It is more than the suspension of disbelief needed to watch a play, yet less than a conversion. It is a position, a posture in the dance. So Sutty's teachers, gathered from many worlds to the city Valparaíso de Chile, had taught her, and she had had no cause to question their teaching.
Le Guin, Ursula K. (2000-09-11). The Telling (Hainish Cycle Book 8) (pp. 97-98). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
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I have usually taken this posture when encountering a religion or belief system that is new to me. I am likely to take this posture when encountering other ideas as well. I'm not sure if I understand what LeGuin is saying exactly, however, when I read this I felt relieved because I had nearly thought that there was something wrong with me for believing in religions when I read or learn about them, even if I don't believe in them afterward. I am not sure how far between "suspension of disbelief needed to watch a play" and conversion I have been in these situations but I have always found myself somewhere in that continuum when studying religion, philosophy, nonfiction, and even when reading fiction to some extent, if there are religious, spiritual, or philosophical ideas being posited. I find it very hard to separate myself from ideas that I learn about; I think that it is part of the gift of empathy with which I have been bestowed. (It is the gift of empathy when seen from a positive light; I'm not sure what the negative aspect of this tendency would be called).
An example of this characteristic:
When I would talk to a former NA sponsor about religion who was studying religion in school and who is very knowledgeable in practice about many aspects of many religions and spiritual paths, I always believed what he was telling me, at least at the time. At the time I was also attending a nondenominational Christian church and I also believed everything that was being taught to me at the time and it didn't really matter if it conflicted with any other ideas that I was learning about at the time. Later, however, I believe that I compared and contrasted them.
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An example of this characteristic:
When I would talk to a former NA sponsor about religion who was studying religion in school and who is very knowledgeable in practice about many aspects of many religions and spiritual paths, I always believed what he was telling me, at least at the time. At the time I was also attending a nondenominational Christian church and I also believed everything that was being taught to me at the time and it didn't really matter if it conflicted with any other ideas that I was learning about at the time. Later, however, I believe that I compared and contrasted them.
[The Telling is:] an enormous interlocking system of symbols, metaphors, correspondences, theories, cosmology, cooking, calisthenics, physics, metaphysics, metallurgy, medicine, physiology, psychology, alchemy, chemistry, calligraphy, numerology, herbalism, diet, legend, parable, poetry, history, and story.
Le Guin, Ursula K. (2000-09-11). The Telling (Hainish Cycle Book 8) (p. 98). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
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