The gift of wisdom offered freely

For International Women’s Day this year, Lianne Raymond published a labour of love.  What is Dying to be Born is a collection of short pieces of writing and small pieces of art from 30 women.  Each little piece is a reflection on a theme, like goodness and compassion and renewal. My favourite piece I think is the one from Danielle LaPorte on the theme of “Genius Heart.”  In it she offers a little prose poem that includes these lines:

Thee beauty of our DNA is dying to be born: an acceptance of the order of chaos; the reverence of High Priestesses in the grocery store; the force of incredibly tender men; the critical necessity of senses that transcend technology.

We can speed the dying (it can hurt.) Karate-chop greed. Puncture silicon. Carve up pretense and principles too small for how big we really are. Let the heart make the way — she will anyhow, by plow or by whisper, by angst or by grace.

That is just a very touching piece of writing, and it gives me some thought for a lyric.  In fact this collection is a whole trove of inspirations for songs I haven’t yet written, and in the spirit of Lianne’s offering, who was in turn inspired by Toni Morrison’s call to write the book you want to read, I may well take some of these lines for songs that say what I have been trying to say for a while in my music.

The book is free, and it is lovely.  It looks great on the page and the writing is a diverse collection.  Each of the contributors is linked through to their site or to other places you can find out more about them.  But importantly, Lianne and her co-conspirators have made this a gift to all, as so much of women’s wisdom is offered to those that pause long enough to ask for it.

So go download the book and post the quote or image on your blog that most grabs you from the collection.  I’m officially starting an internet meme here :-).

Thanks again Lianne.