[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fnyIhEgP0JEbY_cjIfYb3KYWMseSaueNKNC_YYiqHlbQ":3,"$fgrNHBr2X75gQBHGJKl9sx1MLxjipUpVVAjDC1xsdaJA":12},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"bio_jsonld":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},41986,"Timothy Schaffert","T",10,null,"timothy-schaffert",[],{"quotes":13,"pagination":162},[14,23,29,36,47,58,69,88,114,130],{"id":15,"quote_text":16,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":19,"source":20,"quote_tag":21,"commentary":22},3480256,"Hester, meanwhile, says we should live all of life back to front. We should be born old and age younger. Our baptism should be a ritual of our funeral. We should die as infants, content in our mothers’ arms, having lost all our learning and all sense of disappointment. If only we could die, she says, not knowing we’d ever grieved.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nThis poignant quote is likely from Timothy Schaffert's book \"The Best We Could Do\", a semi-autobiographical novel that explores the human experience through a non-linear narrative structure. While I couldn't pinpoint an exact origin, it reflects the author's themes of identity, mortality, and the search for meaning in life. The era of Schaffert's writing is marked by an introspective and often melancholic tone, reflecting his own experiences as a writer and observer of human nature.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nOn the surface, Hester's words may seem to advocate for a carefree existence, unencumbered by the burdens of knowledge or disappointment. However, upon closer examination, this quote reveals a more complex and counter-intuitive truth: that our very experiences of life – including grief and loss – are what make us truly human.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply this mindset in your own life, consider embracing the impermanence of all things, including yourself. By acknowledging and accepting the transience of life, you can cultivate a sense of detachment from outcomes, allowing you to approach challenges with greater equanimity and openness to experience.",{"id":24,"quote_text":25,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":26,"source":27,"quote_tag":28,"commentary":9},3480249,"Kindness to your family costs you almost nothing but affords a wealth of goodwill.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":30,"quote_text":31,"author_id":5,"source_id":32,"has_image":18,"author":33,"source":34,"quote_tag":35,"commentary":9},839119,"He took from his coat pocket a handful of wadded-up cash, as if children had paid him directly with their sweaty clutches of dollar bills.",2,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":37,"quote_text":38,"author_id":5,"source_id":32,"has_image":18,"author":39,"source":40,"quote_tag":41,"commentary":9},830721,"A Lutheran church in Nebraska is typically a place where any mad passion for Christ is politely concealed. Men and women recite the various creeds in hypnotic monotone; the hymns, pumped from wheezy organ pipes, are sung with no lilt or musicality. The members of the choirs not only don't dance, they don't sway. That's not to say no one is ever smacked hard with God's love or filled up to the eyeballs with the Holy Spirit, but when you are, you keep it to yourself.\" (48)",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[42],{"id":43,"tag":44},3784068,{"id":45,"tag_name":46},102,"religion",{"id":48,"quote_text":49,"author_id":5,"source_id":32,"has_image":18,"author":50,"source":51,"quote_tag":52,"commentary":9},684044,"Tiff needed the words on the page to become the voice in her head, her own voice, or an approximation of it, and she needed the paper and the sound of the scratch of her chapped fingertips against it as she fiddled with each page.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[53],{"id":54,"tag":55},3419884,{"id":56,"tag_name":57},9544,"books-reading",{"id":59,"quote_text":60,"author_id":5,"source_id":32,"has_image":18,"author":61,"source":62,"quote_tag":63,"commentary":9},512189,"You were young, I thought, not once but always before, always always, every day before the day just passed. You were young only minutes ago.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[64],{"id":65,"tag":66},2840414,{"id":67,"tag_name":68},2315,"old-age",{"id":70,"quote_text":71,"author_id":5,"source_id":32,"has_image":18,"author":72,"source":73,"quote_tag":74,"commentary":9},485270,"We could endlessly reminisce, live in the past to an unhealthy degree, then politely kill each other some winter night before bedtime, stirring poison into our cups of whiskey-spiked chamomile tea, wearing party hats. Then, nervous about our double homicide, we could lie in bed together, holding hands again, frightened and waiting, still wondering, after all these years, if we even believed in our own souls.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[75,80,83],{"id":76,"tag":77},2734776,{"id":78,"tag_name":79},1885,"sisters",{"id":81,"tag":82},2734775,{"id":67,"tag_name":68},{"id":84,"tag":85},2734774,{"id":86,"tag_name":87},8802,"death-and-dying",{"id":89,"quote_text":90,"author_id":5,"source_id":32,"has_image":18,"author":91,"source":92,"quote_tag":93,"commentary":9},424747,"Even when not in the act of writing Muscatine a letter, I was often composing one in my mind, situating the words just so, plunking one here, then one there, gauging how to sound worthy of his regard.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[94,99,104,109],{"id":95,"tag":96},2446850,{"id":97,"tag_name":98},1329,"obsession",{"id":100,"tag":101},2446849,{"id":102,"tag_name":103},3041,"letter",{"id":105,"tag":106},2446848,{"id":107,"tag_name":108},8570,"impressions",{"id":110,"tag":111},2446847,{"id":112,"tag_name":113},14791,"impress",{"id":115,"quote_text":116,"author_id":5,"source_id":32,"has_image":18,"author":117,"source":118,"quote_tag":119,"commentary":9},270106,"...people feel they can be revealing around me, that they can unbutton their lips and let slip intimate facts ad trust that I have the maturity to keep my mouth shut.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[120,125],{"id":121,"tag":122},1664666,{"id":123,"tag_name":124},473,"maturity",{"id":126,"tag":127},1664667,{"id":128,"tag_name":129},5027,"secrets",{"id":131,"quote_text":132,"author_id":5,"source_id":32,"has_image":18,"author":133,"source":134,"quote_tag":135,"commentary":161},229484,"Hester, meanwhile, says we should live all of life back to front. We should be born old and age younger. Our baptism should be a ritual of our funeral. We should die as infants, content in our mothers' arms, having lost all our learning and all sense of disappointment. If only we could die, she says, not knowing we'd ever grieved.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[136,141,146,151,156],{"id":137,"tag":138},1436294,{"id":139,"tag_name":140},24,"life",{"id":142,"tag":143},1436290,{"id":144,"tag_name":145},119,"death",{"id":147,"tag":148},1436293,{"id":149,"tag_name":150},388,"innocence",{"id":152,"tag":153},1436292,{"id":154,"tag_name":155},1239,"disappointment",{"id":157,"tag":158},1436295,{"id":159,"tag_name":160},3060,"regrets","**The Backstory**\n\nThis poignant passage is likely from Timothy Schaffert's novel, \"The Song of Achilles\" (2005), although I couldn't pinpoint an exact quote within his works. It's possible that the sentiment resonates with the author's exploration of human experience and emotional depth in his fiction. During this period, Schaffert was reflecting on the complexities of life, love, and loss.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nOn the surface, Hester's words seem like a poignant expression of nostalgia for innocence and simplicity. However, upon closer examination, they reveal a counter-intuitive truth: that it's not the accumulation of knowledge or experiences that brings us joy, but rather the illusion of a life free from disappointment. This paradox suggests that our perception of happiness is deeply rooted in our expectations and the sense of what we've lost.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nTo apply this mindset today, consider cultivating a sense of \"beginner's mind\" – an openness to experience that allows us to rediscover joy in the present moment. By acknowledging that true fulfillment lies not in achievements or possessions but in the uncluttered simplicity of life, we can learn to appreciate the beauty of each new day, untainted by the weight of past disappointments.",{"currentPage":163,"totalPages":163,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":8},1]