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Showing posts from January, 2026

"Seeing is not believing -- it is only seeing" (click "read more" for context)

  "Seeing is not believing -- it is only seeing" George MacDonald (The Princess and the Goblin) 1872 The quote from George MacDonald — "Seeing is not believing — it is only seeing" — is spot-on and beautiful. In the story, it's spoken by Irene's great-great-grandmother to explain why Curdie (a pragmatic, skeptical miner boy) can't yet grasp or trust the spiritual realities Irene experiences, even after witnessing some of them. He sees fragments but lacks the faith or openness to believe them as true. The grandmother notes that mere sight often leads people to dismiss or rationalize away what doesn't fit their expectations — they'd "rub their eyes, forget the half they saw, and call the other half nonsense." The eyes transmit astonishingly little of ultimate reality. They weren't built to reveal the nature of consciousness, the divine, or the fabric of existence. For that, something more is required: an inner turning, faith, contemp...

"The child is not meant to die, but to be forever fresh born." (click 'read more' for context)

"The boy should enclose and keep, as his life, the old child within him. He must still, to be a right man, be his mother's darling, and more, his father's pride, and more. The child is not meant to die, but to be forever fresh born." A beautiful and profound line, that comes from George MacDonald (the Scottish author and poet who deeply influenced C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien). The quote is from his novel - The Princess and Curdie - It's a powerful reminder about preserving the " inner child" —not in a childish way, but in the sense of keeping alive wonder, curiosity, openness, playfulness, trust, and a sense of fresh possibility. MacDonald isn't saying we should stay immature or refuse to grow up - child-ish vs. child-like. Instead, he's suggesting that true maturity includes continually renewing and rebirthing that childlike essence within us. The "old child" (the innocent, imaginative core from our early years) shouldn't be kill...

Belief - More or Less (click ‘read more’ for context)

  "People must believe what they can, and those who believe more must not be hard upon those who believe less. I doubt you would have believed it all yourself if you hadn't seen some of it. -- George MacDonald (The Princess and the Goblin) pg. 170 This beautiful quote from George MacDonald’s -The Princess and the Goblin - captures a profound moment of gentle wisdom spoken by the mysterious, grandmotherly figure to young Princess Irene. In the story, Irene has encountered wonders—her ethereal great-great-grandmother, a magical thread, and unseen realities—that others struggle to accept. When Curdie, the brave miner boy, doubts her tales despite the evidence of his rescue, the grandmother offers this compassionate insight:  “People must believe what they can, and those who believe more must not be hard upon those who believe less. I doubt if you would have believed it all yourself if you hadn’t seen some of it.” The line gently rebukes judgment while acknowledging the very ...