Having come out of the pandemic, many of us have tried to forget the time where we were home-bound and felt captivated. But Yahia Lababidi used that time to write a book called Quarantine Notes, which he says is “how he kept sane and spiritually alive during our global pandemic.” The book contains some aphorisms which really make you stop and think.
Yahia is an Egyptian author who is now the author of 11 collections of poetry and prose, and he is often referred to by many as “our greatest living aphorist”. His aphorisms and poems have been used widely in different ways whether in classrooms, religious services, and also at international film festivals. His latest book, Quarantine Notes, has received exceptional praise.
At the beginning of his book, Yahia shares some notes about the book; “Quarantine Notes is how I kept sane and spiritually alive during our global pandemic, when our homes became cocoons for radical transformation. As barriers dissolved between inner and outer worlds, waking and dreaming, self and others, I felt that the midlife crisis I was experiencing (in my late-forties) was mirrored, globally. The world as I knew it was ending, and it was no longer possible to go back, collectively, to our narrow, destructive, oblivious existence: prepandemic. These are the stories that I told myself to save my life, Shahrazad-style, as the days turned to weeks to months to years, and one came to feel like they were existing out of time, in a state of limbo, confronted with mortality.”
He continues that “The hope is that my soul’s dialogue with itself — in the form of aphorisms in this collection — will also resonate with readers since, for the first time in recent history, we were presented with the inescapable reality of our interdependence. This global pandemic served as an enforced mass meditation for us all and, because it’s not quite over, yet, with its lessons hardly digested, it still remains true that “We must love one another or die.”
Yahia’s book has received a great response globally as well. Dr Mathew Staunton, a historian, publisher and teacher, refers glowingly to the works: “A collection of Yahia Lababidi’s aphorisms is like an atlas of tiny maps, each one guiding us calmly through a network of possibilities to a bright and often unexpected vista. Gem-like… we are confronted with his thinking on silence, pain, forgiveness… love.” Once you start reading, you won’t want to put it down – these little aphorisms will have you pondering life, smiling, and lamenting.
These are just a few of the great aphorisms that you can read in the book. It is a great book to read, it is almost like a spiritual reawakening, and we think you should head out and pick up your copy to take with you, maybe when you need some food for thought on your travels this summer. Yahia shares his latest updates on his Instagram, so go ahead and follow him @YahiaLabibidi too!
