How important are looks and popularity? How do I care for myself and not be selfish? How can I be honest and still be loved? How can I achieve and not threaten others? How can I be sexual and not a sex object? How can I be responsive but not responsible for everyone?
~ Mary Pipher
(Reviving Ophelia)
These six questions will certainly provide this weekend’s food for thought. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Laurie! It is good to think about these questions every once in a while, and see how our answers evolve as the years go by.
With age, these questions become less of a concern for me. 🙂
Me, too, Sybil, except for that last one – I’m still grappling with it… 🙂
The questions are very thought-provoking. Some of the questions probably have become less of a concern across the years–others still are very relevant.
I often wonder if our mothers and grandmothers thought about these things, or if they felt comfortable following without question whatever role models their own mothers offered.
Thought-provoking questions. I particularly want to ponder that last one. Another perfect match of image and words, Barbara. 🙂
Thank you, Robin! 🙂 The last question is a stickler for me, especially while coping with so many chronic illnesses in the family…
I so badly want the answers to thess questions, for my age, I still have a very long way to learn about life! I am yet to experience a whole lot about life. I think these questions have an in depth sensibility, and truthfulness.
When this book came out in 1994, Sonali, it helped me to understand some of what I had struggled with in my adolescence. My daughter was about 13 then and it also helped me to guide her as she passed through her teen years. But in the end, it is the answers each of us discover for ourselves that mean the most, even if they are hard to come by. Wishing you wisdom on your own journey of discovery!
Oh gosh yes what a thought provoking list of questions! I don’t think we’re ever too old to think of our answers to questions like these.
The painting is a perfect match!
That’s so true, Rosie – I think the answers evolve as we mature and gain experience. I love this painting – I only just “discovered” Odilon Redon – I wish I could find a print of it somewhere.
Being authentic and being a person of the world simultaneously- I wonder whether they are complementary forces that co-exist?
I suppose it depends on which world we find ourselves spending time in. Sometimes when we’re being authentic it might be difficult to locate other people who want to live within a similar framework of ideals…
Very good questions to ponder. If we’re truthful, we’ll sometimes often have to admit that our ego’s concerns are as true as the concerns of our Essence. Always wanting to live more truly from Essence…
Always treasuring those moments in life Self is resonating with Essence – those moments when the answers to all those questions feel so authentic. Thank you for your observation, Kathy…
The painting works so beautifully with the questions posed by Mary Pipher – with eyes closed on what the world thinks; answers from what our inward looking knows … or perhaps doesn’t need to know. (Of course, Orphelia wa considered to be mad … hmmm) Lovely.
I am so in love with this painting, Diane…
There was something in the book about Ophelia, comparing her confusion about Hamlet’s intentions and her “madness” to what girls in our culture go through when they come out of those blissful childhood years – years when they were free to learn and explore the world without worrying about sex. The author said that many adolescent girls go through a depression when they realize that the culture we live in pays attention to and values their beauty and sexuality more than their intellect and skills. I know I did…