just 17 pages into a book of essays by anais nin and i am kind of overwhlemed a bit

"so we’re here to celebrate the sources of faith and confidence. i want to give you the secrets of constant alchemy that we must practice to turn brass into gold, hate into love, destruction into creation – to change the crass daily news into inspiration, and despair into joy. none need misinterpret this as indifference to the state of the world or to the actions by which we can stem the destructiveness of the corrupt system. there is an acknowledgement that as human beings, we need nourishment to sustain the life of the spirit, so that we can act in the world, but i don’t mean turn away. i mean we must gain our strength and our values from self-growth and self-discovery. against all odds, against all handicaps, against the chamber of horrors we call history, man has continued to dream and to depict its opposite. that is what we have to do. we do not escape into philosophy, psychology, and art – we go there to restore our shattered selves into whole ones."