I had a great upbringing. All that sci Fi was Mums! She loved it. I was raised reading - and before the Internet and everyone telling you what to think, yep, books.
I've just listened to half the audio of Ubik today. What an absolute crazy read. Wild. I don't think I understood it as a kid but loving it now. Those sci-fi authors sure grappled with incredible ideas.
Le Guin was pretty formative for me. She enabled me to understand the process of othering, of the lens through which we see the world, our social constraints and constructions, how gender is constructed, before travel and university.
We all grow up in pretty small towns that literature expands.
I thought about this last night, and couldn't leave the discussion there. I do a great injustice to my mother by writing off her worldview by saying, 'She was orthodox Catholic'. Catholicism gave her the language to express a level of insight about life I have not yet achieved.
People hire life coaches. They travel around the world to sit at the feet of gurus. They take mind-altering drugs. All in the name of finding truth, an enlightened way forward.
My mother knew the way. There was never a kinder person. Never a person with less pretense. Charity? When we were living with a 'couch' that consisted of three folding chairs, she pledged $300 to the neighborhood church for a new roof. She visited sick people she didn't know. Most of all, she was forgiving.
All of that was boring for me. I had to travel my own path, and it's been bumpy, full of mistakes. But I think in my head my mother has always set the standard for good.
It's so sweet you came back to explain that it wasn't your mother, it was you. I totally understand - my parents set a moral benchmark and a way of life I too ran from. Life seemed bigger to me, perhaps as I had found examples of that in the pages of books. So I left in search of excitement tooi
I do envy people who feel that surety of faith and a strong life purpose because of it. I'll never believe in God, but those that feel guided by a higher purpose have something I'll never have.
🌷🌷♥️