Pages

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

I'm No Grammarian

Yes, I did get a "D" in the grammar portion of one of my High School English classes. The only reason I squeaked out a "B" overall was that the rest of class was literature which I adore.
I'm admitting this because my blog title might not be grammatically correct. I honestly don't know if it is, but I love it!

Here's why my blog is called "Ontologically Happy"--

One of my favorite women is Madelein L'Engle. She's a woman I will have over for dinner in heaven because when she lived, she was too far across the country to invite over. (New York) When she published her book "A Circle of Quiet" in 1972, my favorite of hers, I was five years shy of being born. My parents weren't even married yet. She was in her 30's raising babies (my age & stage) in the 1950's. She died in September of 2007 after living a long and fruitful life. Madeleine's perspectives and wisdom I find completely relevant and insightful even to our current days, even though they were written decades ago. To me, that makes her all the more fascinating.

But I will definitely invite her over for dinner in my heaven-dwelling because she is a major inspiration to me in my life as a growing artist, believer in Jesus and woman.  We'll sit on a cloud-couch and drink star-light tea and talk about our love for life, art and Jesus. Something dreamy like that.


Anyway, in a couple of her books she talks about being "ontological". Generally the idea of being ontological is to be in a state of who we are at our core. Like being at peace, in an un-self-conscious way, with who you are. Not so much what you are, as in roles (parent, teacher, artist, spouse), or who you want to be from the expectations and pressures of culture, but WHO. She talks about the joy of getting away to her favorite spot by a pond and just "being".

From this ontological position, we are more free to pray, create, love.

As I've considered starting a blog, I've way over-thought it scrapped about five versions. One hang-up has been the issue of "theme"; do I need to commit to a certain topic? I love randomness, so committing to something where it would be weird to throw in a post about my crush on Jimmy Fallon, or how I secretly want to be a paleontologist, was not sitting well with me. Somehow I keep coming back to the desire to start my own blog because I've been inspired by, learned from and grown spiritually from the writing of other people sharing through their blogs. So I want to do it too--and let the random be free!

I want to write about things that strike my interest in the moment, and things that give me a deep, lasting happiness at the core of who I am. My place to write and be ontological--as grammatically incorrect as that may be. As you know, happiness is fleeting and sometimes plain absent, but I've found when I'm in a place of  "being" WHO God created me to be, I feel happy. Ontologically Happy.

Madeleine says, "Our truest responsibility to the irrationality of the world is to paint, sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth."

So that's the "why" of this blog for me. I want to write about life from a place of ontological happiness.

Cheers, Madeleine! Thanks for being inspiring and living ontologically so others can follow your example. I think I'm going to quote you a time or twenty-eight!

8 comments:

Cheri said...

Bravo! Love it- I look forward to more of the musings of beautiful Becca. . .

Anonymous said...

Congrats on beginning a fun blog friend! I look forward to reading more!

Sheri said...

Oh, Becca! This makes me happy! An old friend of mine and I used to tell each other "just BE". Nothin' else, just BE. And there you are!
Love it! Have fun!

Sarah said...

I'm so excited to get ontological with you! Those have been my favorite moments with God. I'm excited to follow your blog. Way to go Becca!!

Unknown said...

love, love! thanks for giving me a few minutes of reading happiness. :) you are my new favorite blogger!

dawn said...

Yay! I just clued in that you went for it, Becca! Congrats--you are going to love blogging as an outlet--it's perfect for you.

So, two things:

1) Um, your blog is pretty stinkin' adorable! You obviously figured out the pretty-it-up stuff. And I'm totally into dandelions these days. Not in my lawn...but in design. So I LOVE it!

2) Madeleine L'Engle is my favorite author...or so I thought. Yet, I didn't know the word ontological. I really like her fiction most...have since I was a child. And I met her once while I worked at Wheaton! And she signed a copy of "A Wind in the Door" for me. :0)

Happy blogging!

Becca D said...

Awww, my friends. Thanks for the love and support. Dawn-I love that you met Madeline-amazing! You should definitely check out her non-fiction. Circle of Quiet and Walking on Water. I too, loved "A Wrinkle in Time".

Tiffany said...

Hi! I'm an official follower! Great start...i can't wait to read more!

Post a Comment