Quotes About Presence

He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.

There was nowhere to go, but I turned to go and met Atticus's vest front. I buried my head in it and listened to the small internal noises that went on behind the light blue cloth: his watch ticking, the faint crackle of his starched shirt, the soft sound of his breathing. 'Your stomach's growling,' I said. 'I know it,' he said.

He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.

The remainder of the afternoon went by in the gentle gloom that descends when relatives appear

Uncle Jimmy present or Uncle Jimmy absent made not much difference, he never said anything.

Aunque no sabía a dónde ir, me volví para marcharme y topé con Atticus. Hundí la cabeza en su chaqueta y escuché los pequeños ruidos que se producían detrás de la tela azul: el tictac del reloj de bolsillo, el leve crepitar de la camisa almidonada, la suave respiración de mi padre.

without additional

People leave strange little memories of themselves behind when they die.

When there's nothing to do, you do nothing slowly and intently.

I'm your phantom dance partner. I'm your shadow. I'm not anything more.

Life is here, death is over there. I am here, not over there.

We were, the two of us, still fragmentary beings, just beginning to sense the presence of an unexpected, to be-aquired reality that would fill us and make us whole.

But it has finally hit me: she is neither a concept nor a symbol nor a metaphor. She actually exists: she has warm flesh and a spirit that moves. I never should have lost sight of that warmth and that movement.

You're here," I continued. "At least you look as if you're here. But maybe you aren't. Maybe it's just your shadow. The real you may be someplace else. Or maybe you already disappeared, a long, long time ago. I reach out my hand to see, but you've hidden yourself behind a cloud of probablys. Do you think we can go on like this forever?

At the entrance to the original tower, there is a stone into which Jung carved some words with his own hand: 'Cold or not, God is present.

Okay, let's put it this way. I would like to sleep with you. But it's alright if I don't sleep with you. What I'm saying is I'd like to be as fair as possible. I don't want to force anything on anybody, any more than I'd want anything forced on me. It's enough that I feel your presence or see your commas swirling around me.

Not being bored means not having to think about a lot of stupid stuff.

Sometimes we don't need words. Rather, it's words that need us.

It was still inchoate, something missing. Something that should be there was appealing to the nonvalidity of absence. And that missing element was rapping on the glass window separating presence and absence. I could make out its wordless cry.

With Naoko gone, I went to sleep on the sofa. I hadn't intended to do so, but I fell into the kind of deep sleep I had not in a long time, filled with a sense of Naoko's presence. In the kitchen were the dishes Naoko ate from, in the bathroom was the toothbrush Naoko used, and in the bedroom was the bed in which Naoko slept. Sleeping soundly in this apartment of hers, I wrung the fatigue from every cell of my body, drop by drop. I dreamed of a butterfly dancing in the half-light.

What's important is being attentive. Staying calm, being alert to things around you.

Is it possible to become friends with a butterfly?.. It is if you become a part of nature. You suppress your presence as a human being, stay very still, and convince yourself that you are a tree or grass or flower. It takes time, but once the butterfly lets it guard down, you can become friends quiet naturally.

Cold or not, God is Present

Not to excuse myself, but when you have people right in front of you denying your very presence like that, then see if you don't doubt whether you actually exist. I look at my hands half expecting to see clear through them.