Sometimes to go
“Walking in Yosemite” by Rennett Stowe; Licensed under CCA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
“Oh, how one wants sometimes to go from such giftlessly high-flown, cheerless human wordiness into the seeming silence of nature, into the arduous soundlessness of long, persistent labor, into the wordlessness of deep sleep, of true music, and of a quiet, heartfelt touch grown mute from fullness of soul!”
— Boris Pasternak
Probably nobody I know is more fond of a good conversation than I am. I love reading, writing and anything to do with words. But there are times — especially when I’m in a noisy, crowded place, or worse, when the inane chatter of a television is blaring nearby and I’m powerless to stop it — when I just want to flee into the sanctity of silence.
The images Pasternak brings together in this quote evoke, in different ways, that feeling of retreat from empty clatter. Nature’s calm, the satisfaction of manual labor, the balm of sound sleep, lovely music and silent companionship: these are the places of respite from the peculiar stresses of spending too much time amid the “progress” of civilization.
During the long weeks of living in hospital settings over the past year, how we would long for the quiet cocoon of our home! What a solace it can be, to escape to a secluded natural spot away from traffic, urban stress and electronic stimulation. During the grinding heat of the summer (or the chill of winter, for those south of the equator) I wish you many moments of escape to refresh and renew your spirit.
One year ago today:
This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: calm, clarity, companionship, contemplation, distraction, meditation, mindfulness, quiet, renewal, retreat, silence, stillness
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