“When you accept the state of being a stranger, you are no longer a stranger. I have been an exile when everything around me seemed strange and everybody was a stranger. Once I accepted that I didn’t have to belong and I didn’t have to be part of the world, then I was free to be part of it. There was a paradoxical release of the spirit. The world became mine when I was no longer holding on to it.”
–Satish Kumar, Indian activist, editor, and former Jain monk. An excerpt from a conversation with him on being an insider and an outsider at the same time in our Summer 1995 issue, “The Stranger.” This issue is available to purchase here. If you have enjoyed this piece, consider subscribing.
Photography Credit: Minor White, Song without Words, #16, 1947. Vintage Silver Print, Robert Mann Gallery
Read the entire excerpt here.
Once I accepted that I didn’t have to belong and I didn’t have to be part of the world, then I was free to be part of it. - Satish Kumar
from Stowe Boyd http://stoweboyd.com/post/138277649947
