When ideas float in our mind without any reflection or regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call revery, our language has scarce a name for it. ~John Locke
A different topic for my blog today. One of my recent reads was a book written in the early 1930s by an intrepid female explorer named Freya Stark. Entitled 'The Valleys of the Assassins and other Persian Tales' it recounts an interesting journey to destinations which, at the time, were seldom visited by 'outsiders' particularly a woman. I am in no way suggesting that you read this book, I have a penchant for travel and history hence my somewhat unusual choice of reading matter.
However, one paragraph caught my attention and this I would like to share:
Solitude is the one deep necessity of the human spirit to which adequate recognition is never given in our codes. It is looked upon as a discipline or a penance, but hardly ever as the indispensable, pleasant ingredient it is to ordinary life, and from this want of recognition come half our domestic troubles. Modern education ignores the need for solitude: hence a decline in religion, in poetry, in all the deeper affections of the spirit: a disease to be doing something always, as if one could never sit quietly and let the puppet show unroll itself before one: an inability to lose oneself in mystery and wonder while, like a wave lifting us into new seas, the history of the world develops around us.
The phrase 'doing something always' is so true. I find that I am unable to just sit and do nothing as I feel guilty that my hands are not occupied! Meditation is different, it is an ability to switch off from the happenings around us and clear our minds. However, to just sit and appreciate our surroundings, the beautiful sky, trees and flowers, an architectural masterpiece or just the peace and quiet of home is very important in the frenetic world in which we live. We need to find a little time to daydream, what do you think?
Some recent pictures from my garden ..........
The purple clematis in full bloom. Enormous flowers, the size of a small plate and very beautiful.
and a tiny visitor to the garden, a young ladybug with beautiful markings
Stitching awaits with lots to complete so until next time ............. do find some time to daydream!
It is a good idea to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presence may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought. ~James Douglas
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