“The tapestry maker first strings the warp, long strong fibers anchored firmly to the loom, and then interweaves the weft, the patterns, the color, the art.”

— Ursula Goodenough , book The Sacred Depths of Nature

Source: The Sacred Depths of Nature (1998), p. 173
Context: The tapestry maker first strings the warp, long strong fibers anchored firmly to the loom, and then interweaves the weft, the patterns, the color, the art. The epic of evolution is our warp, destined to endure, commanding our universal gratitude and reverence and commitment. And then, after that, we are all free to be artists, to render in language and painting and song and dance our ultimate hopes and concerns and understandings of human nature. Throughout the ages, the weaving of our religious weft has been the province of our prophets and gurus and liturgists and poets. The texts and art and ritual that come to us from these revered ancestors include claims about Nature and Agency that are no longer plausible. They use a different warp. But for me at least, this is just one of those historical facts, something that can be absorbed, appreciated, and then put aside as I encounter the deep wisdom embedded in these traditions and the abundant opportunities that they offer to experience transcendence and clarity.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The tapestry maker first strings the warp, long strong fibers anchored firmly to the loom, and then interweaves the wef…" by Ursula Goodenough?

Ursula Goodenough photo

Ursula Goodenough 64

American biologist 1943

Related quotes

“If life is a loom, the pattern you weave is not so easily unraveled.”

Lloyd Alexander The Chronicles of Prydain

Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book IV: Taran Wanderer (1967), Chapter 18 (Dwyvach)

“Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

Source: The Wilderness World of John Muir

“There was a larger pattern
we worked at: they on a big
loom, I with a small needle.”

R.S. Thomas (1913–2000) Welsh poet

"In Context", p. 13
Frequencies (1978)

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

“I get off on a man with strong moral fiber. The closest Barrons ever gets to fiber is walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery store.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Bloodfever

“A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.”

G. H. Hardy book A Mathematician's Apology

A Mathematician's Apology (1941)

“He is the most consistently successful South African movie maker around, firmly cornering the giggle market.”

Jamie Uys (1921–1996) South African film director

Jani Allan, "(Still) letting the good times roll", Sunday Times (1979), republished in Face Value by Jani Allan.

“… we will stand amazed to see the topside of the tapestry and how God beautifully embroidered each circumstance into a pattern for our good and His glory.”

Joni Eareckson Tada (1949) American artist

“And her voice is a string of colored beads,
Or steps leading into the sea.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Source: Renascence and Other Poems

“Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.”

Richard Feynman book The Character of Physical Law

Source: The Character of Physical Law (1965), chapter 1, “The Law of Gravitation,” p. 34

Related topics