Tennessee Williams On Faith: Change The Angle



New Orleans
1982


I was raised to believe that faith was a gift. Any faith, I suppose--not simply the supernal variety. I was never very good at faith: I tend to naturally believe in apocalypse and diminution and abandonment. Whatever faith I have, I have through a magical sort of manipulation. What I mean is that faith--like the application of any gift--depends greatly on perspective, the angle at which it is applied. You know, a door closes, a window opens; rejection protects you from something you weren't ready to handle. Hunger and lack sharpen the senses in a way that will make you stronger or smarter. Positive thinking, it is often called. I don't do that. I just shift the angle, look at things from another perspective. I can find almost anything funny, thank God, so you search for the black, lacy slip that encases the corpse. You know, shift the angle. God may take away, but he often leaves you with a terrific opening line for the next adventure. I would suggest taking it. Move on; change the angle; look at it in a different way tomorrow.


© 2013 James Grissom 

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