The Patience Worth Phenomenon Today
The story and writings of Pearl Curran/Patience Worth are little known outside of occult circles today. Most of the writing is out of print, except for a few print on demand publishers who specialize in public domain works.
Irving Litvag's Singer in the Shadows, written in 1972 and reprinted by Back-In-Print publishers, offers a thorough and accessible chronicle of the Pearl Curran/Patience Worth phenomenon.
In his book Immortal Remains. The Evidence of Life after Death Stephen E. Braude thoroughly examines the case of Patience Worth and concludes that Pearl Curran was probably a highly gifted child whose talent for writing was smothered by her mother, who wanted to force Pearl into a singing career. In the alter ego of Patience Worth her subconscious could revive that talent. Patience also had a sharp tongue and was highly suspicious and critical of organized religion and formal education. She also was contemptuous of the various forms of academic and religious posturing. Braude argues that these were in fact personality traits of Pearl that she couldn't let out at that time.
Read more about this topic: Patience Worth
Famous quotes containing the words patience, worth, phenomenon and/or today:
“With patience bear what pains you have deserved,
Grieve, if you will, over what’s unmerited.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“No, when the fight begins within himself,
A man’s worth something.”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)
“The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. In our system, she must become a passive, much more than an active, influence, and her passivity shall be composed of anxious scientific curiosity and of absolute respect for the phenomenon which she wishes to observe. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon.”
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952)
“Only conservatives believe that subversion is still being carried on in the arts and that society is being shaken by it.... Advanced art today is no longer a cause—it contains no moral imperative. There is no virtue in clinging to principles and standards, no vice in selling or in selling out.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)