Anne Emerson-Photographer,
Poet, and Essayist
The Pursuit of Happiness
In pursuit of happiness, would you choose wealth or joy? Read on...
Annie is incorrigibly interested in everything and everyone. She is an avid reader and writer. You are invited to click on the "Reading List for Joy" link above, for Annie's quick summaries of several books. If you are very busy, or already persuaded of the importance of Joy, you might prefer to explore the text boxes on this page. The whole reading list may not be for you, but one of the text boxes may work for you or yours, instead! The reading list is designed to invite exploration of discovery - what a deeper happiness may be... But, of course, this is just Annie's sharing. Everyone has their own journey.
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I'm thankful for the Universe and for the Great Divine.
The Universe is ev'rywhere and I am small therein.
The Great Divine looks out for me and knows me very well.
It walks with me and talks with me and I am large there-with.
So, am I small or am I large, within the Great Unknown?
How can it know of ev'ryone, the way it knows of me?
How can it care for all of you, the way it cares for me?
I hate to break the news to you - and me - and all the world:
That God of mine who knows me well, She's my own soul, all mine.
The rest of you - so blind - you have your own Divines Within.
And yes, I thank the Universe for all of you as well.
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Annie E.
I'm Thankful for...
Get to Know Annie's Journey
Is Annie Trustworthy?
Well, the US Defense Department thought so. She used to teach, to the US Military, MBA and BBA classes in Economics for Managers, Managerial Economics, Business Research Methods, and Business Research Project. All she had to do, to get into certain secure facilities, was to wave her pass at the gate. She thought nothing of it, until one day she attended a concert at a US Military Base. Bomb-sniffing dogs checked every car that passed in. It took over half an hour to gain admittance. We were so late in, that we did not get a seat in the concert hall, and had to listen from a hallway. Although it was beautiful, we did not try to attend a concert on base again.
Resources for the Pursuit of Joy
About Creativity
We human beings need playtime. When we are children, we play. When we are adults, we create. Annie talks about her journey into the art world, on other pages of this website. You are welcome to explore the other pages, to see Annie's idea of creativity in action. Here are a few more wonderfully creative videos she would like to recommend: Loving Vincent, Tim's Vermeer, Fiddler on the Roof
Each of the books at the "Coming Soon" links below is ALREADY summarized in the reading list at the "Reading List for Joy" link above. Each will, time permitting, have its own link below. Book Seven is the only one that has its own link, as of now. Until then, you are invited to click on the Reading List link, above, and find the book which interests you. Or, to explore the text boxes on this pageand Annie's pics, poems, and essays, on other pages of this website.
Shortcut Book, if you were raised Christian
If you are comfortable exploring spirituality in a Christian context, there is a book, to which Annie was recently introduced, which may be read instead of the whole list here. It is called "Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul," by John Philip Newell. It offers a Celtic version of Christianity - a melding of early Christianity with Celtic traditions and teachings. It can be difficult for devout churchgoers to absorb; yet it appears to be consistent with early Christian teachings.
Annie adds - Perhaps since Maslow's time, it has been suggested that many social animal groups are led by a matriarch, not by a patriarch. Young males do the "heavy lifting"; the matriarch chooses strategy. (Wolf packs; elephant societies; others?) Annie hopes to explore this theme, going forward.
About World War II, or is it III?
Some wonderful plays and movies were made, about how it feels to be a civilian in the approach to war. Annie has watched them again in her old age, and seen much that she had missed, when she watched them as a child. Here are just a few to re-visit, partly for joy, and partly as food for thought:
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Fiddler on the Roof; The Sound of Music; Oklahoma; Casablanca
About Child Psychology
Annie speaks more as a child than as a psychologist: The following are among the other books and stories that helped her learn to be an adult (many of them, she encountered in school): The Pilgrim's Progress; Grimm's Fairy Tales; The Water Babies; Pinnochio
Shortcut Book, if you feel at odds with the world
This is a book from which Annie has read only excerpts. However, she has read a thought-provoking biography of the person who authored/delivered the book. So, if you can identify with the trials and tribulations of someone at a Crossroads, read on. Perhaps this book is for you. If so, Annie can recommend a translation into English...
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According to history, he was orphaned very young; he was raised by an Uncle. Then, a wealthy widow, old enough to be his mother - and already his employer - proposed marriage to him when he was still a very young man. His circumstances were such that he decided to accept her offer. Then, they had to make it work.
She needed him, Annie assumes, because it was not easy to be a woman living alone in her world, and he needed her, because he did not have many other options. His biographer, in the version Annie read, wondered what type of mental illness he was suffering from (how presumptuous can you get - to impose Western medical terminology on an Arab whose life we can barely imagine?), when he started going into trances and reciting the stream of consciousness that became....
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The Qur'an.
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Annie recommends the following translation, written by a scholar who spoke both Arabic and English: "The Qur'an: English Language Edition by Abdullah Yusuf Ali." ISBN: 978-0-7858-4258-3 (That's the number you can give to a bookshop, so that they can get it for you.)
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Annie is also in possession of a version of the Qur'an written in both Arabic and Urdu (she was told, by an Urdu-speaker). She does not remember how she came by such a special book.
More Not-English Classics
Annie prefers only to list books she has read; usually in translation. Therefore, many wonderful books in non-English languages are absent. This is just a small introduction to the non-English-speaking world:
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A Dream of Red Mansions (Chinese classic)
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Dance of Divine Love (The Rasa Lila of Krishna, Scholarly version by Graham Schweig; ISBN 0-691-11446-3)
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Dr. Zhivago
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
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The Muqaddimah (Annie has read extracts from this, only)
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The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Many more to follow; book reviews by others may usually be found on the Internet.
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