Comments on: A Reader’s Treasury of Misfortune http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/ The new Epiphany Girl can't write yet, so it's up to Epiphany's Mama to tell her story Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:55:19 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Taking the Risk of Contentment « The Girl Who Cried Epiphany http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-206 Taking the Risk of Contentment « The Girl Who Cried Epiphany Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:28:27 +0000 http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-206 [...] are so many more dramatic ways to describe misery than pain (isn’t that why modern fiction robs us of happy endings so often these days?).  Or perhaps the truth of contentment is to be found in the stillness it [...] [...] are so many more dramatic ways to describe misery than pain (isn’t that why modern fiction robs us of happy endings so often these days?).  Or perhaps the truth of contentment is to be found in the stillness it [...]

]]> By: girlwhocriedepiphany http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-47 girlwhocriedepiphany Sat, 01 Dec 2007 14:48:51 +0000 http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-47 Thank you for elucidating the tension between the tradition of story telling that depends on those basic elements of narrative (in all their pain) and the new move toward a recital of pain. You really helped me understand what I was trying to say and the way that there is something in the new stories that sinks under an excess of pathos. What you say about the triumph of good as the story of the world is really brilliant - that is a wonderful way to cling to hope in what so often seems a hopeless world. Again, my thanks. Thank you for elucidating the tension between the tradition of story telling that depends on those basic elements of narrative (in all their pain) and the new move toward a recital of pain. You really helped me understand what I was trying to say and the way that there is something in the new stories that sinks under an excess of pathos.
What you say about the triumph of good as the story of the world is really brilliant – that is a wonderful way to cling to hope in what so often seems a hopeless world.
Again, my thanks.

]]> By: AR http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-38 AR Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:52:40 +0000 http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-38 I think there's an unspoken instinct in each of us about how to read a story. There's a reason trraditional story-telling works the way it does, with beginning, problem, overcoming, climax, denouement...each story is telling in small the story of the world. That's why the greats took literary license to speak of things that would probably never happen exactly that way in an actual lifetime. So I think when we read a story that is merely a recital of pain, something in our brain is being told that this is what the world is about - the meaning of the world is pain. Great stories have suffering in them but they show that the end of the story is significance, meaning, and triumph of good. Not everyone's individual story ends up that way, but the story of the world does. Of course there are also tragedies... but even those are illustrations of why bad things happen. They still speak of the significance of suffering. I think modern writers are subverting an older form and trying to put it to the use of their assumptions about the meaninglessness of life. But the point of a story IS meaning, so there's conflict there. I think there’s an unspoken instinct in each of us about how to read a story. There’s a reason trraditional story-telling works the way it does, with beginning, problem, overcoming, climax, denouement…each story is telling in small the story of the world. That’s why the greats took literary license to speak of things that would probably never happen exactly that way in an actual lifetime.

So I think when we read a story that is merely a recital of pain, something in our brain is being told that this is what the world is about – the meaning of the world is pain. Great stories have suffering in them but they show that the end of the story is significance, meaning, and triumph of good. Not everyone’s individual story ends up that way, but the story of the world does.

Of course there are also tragedies… but even those are illustrations of why bad things happen. They still speak of the significance of suffering. I think modern writers are subverting an older form and trying to put it to the use of their assumptions about the meaninglessness of life. But the point of a story IS meaning, so there’s conflict there.

]]> By: Ruaidhrí http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-37 Ruaidhrí Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:17:32 +0000 http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-37 There was another quote which I wanted to post but I can't find it, or remember where I heard it. The gist of it was that the denial of suffering is in and of itself a major source of suffering. Mindfully accepting the existence of suffering is the first step in removing it through compassion and loving-kindness. I'm guessing I read this from a buddhist source but can't remember it right now. There was another quote which I wanted to post but I can’t find it, or remember where I heard it. The gist of it was that the denial of suffering is in and of itself a major source of suffering. Mindfully accepting the existence of suffering is the first step in removing it through compassion and loving-kindness. I’m guessing I read this from a buddhist source but can’t remember it right now.

]]> By: Ruaidhrí http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-36 Ruaidhrí Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:11:26 +0000 http://epiphanygirl.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/a-readers-treasury-of-misfortune/#comment-36 "Compassion is that which makes the heart of the good move at the pain of others. It crushes and destroys the pain of others; thus, it is called compassion. It is called compassion because it shelters and embraces the distressed." - The Buddha “Compassion is that which makes the heart of the good move at the pain of others. It crushes and destroys the pain of others; thus, it is called compassion. It is called compassion because it shelters and embraces the distressed.” – The Buddha

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