2015 Relaxation and Restoration in Saint-Martin-d’Etamps
Weekend of relaxation and restoration: a walk in the country. After three city weeks of fashion, plays, concerts, and celebrations, Nature whispered, “Come this way, it is better by far than a walk in a park.”
Welcome ! “All things come to their fulfillment as the one universal Nature directs; for there is no rival nature, whether containing her from without, or itself contained within her, or even existing apart and detached from her.”
~ Marcus Aurelius 121 -180, Meditations, 2nd century
2015 Relaxation and Restoration in Saint-Martin-d’ Etampes
The weekend offered exercise amongst expansive views in the country of farm lands; fully replenishing with clear fresh air. I offer here my country-air meditation in quotes which relate to the magic of nature, the language of silence, and the importance of friendships.
“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.”
~ Kalil Gibran, 1883 – 1931
For me it was a weekend of holistic well-being. ‘Pure Nature’ for me is the idea to BE the best I can be. The silence speaks volumes to me. She reminds me to express compassionately to all beings, to be the purity of my own natural heart. I strive to see this same truth in others as well, and to approach each person with an understanding of their qualities of lightness in the invisible spirit, as juxtaposediwth the frequently laden heaviness of the demands of this rapid-paced day and age – even in our best physical form. At the weekend, I practised yoga -like exercises as balance for my body, mind and spirit, and learnt a little someting about super-foods, raw food combining and preparations for optimum body/mind and spirit overall biochemistry, nourishment, and balance. I enthusiastically enjoyed the smiling faces of like-minded healthy and supportive friends who shone in the light and the warmth of the sun, and glowed in the heat fire near the dining table.
A true friend is the most precious of all possessions and the one we take least thought about acquiring.
~ La Rochefoucauld, 1613 – 1680, Maxims, 1665
“The sun, we say is the cause of heat, but the heat of the sun, is here on this window-ledge.” I AM present now.
~ Mark Rutherford, 1831 – 1913 More Pages From a Journal, 1910
Within natures propositions, I remember those who are no longer with me, and still feel connected to them.
“How do you know but every Bird that cuts the airy way, Is in an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?”
~ Blake, 1757 – 1827
The monarch flits among the flowers, the little spike bounds through the fields and the crow flys toward unknown destinations.
“Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation.”
~ Rumi, 1207 – 1273
Rumi did not know this, yet silence also is the language of photography. I learn so much from the photos that accompany me in life. I regard carefully a photo from the outside inward – the corners first and then the surrounding elements, then what most people look straight at to see – the actual ‘subject’ of the photo. It is a rather inductive form of looking – it habitually is my way. It is calling to me, by feeling, that fills the way I see the integrity of a photo.
“A photo is usually looked at – seldom looked into.”
~ Ansel Adams, 1902 – 1984
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”
~ Ansel Adams, 1902 – 1984
Nature reserves her role as plentiful and the leaves it to the individual to fulfill oneself. She is omnipresent in each cell, each breath, each monarch butterfly, spike and crow; and she is abundantly available for each and every lifeform to infinity!
“Individuality seems to be Nature’s whole aim, and yet she cares no – thing for individuals.”
~ Goethe, 1749 – 1832, Maxims and Reflections, early 19th century
We all belong to Nature and we all must care for her. Our planet, our home, serves our well-being in-discriminately and impersonally, asking no- thing; we can serve hers as well.
“It is easy to believe we are each waves and forget we are also the ocean.”
~ Jon J. Muth, 1960
If the first law of friendship is that it has to be cultivated, the second law is to be indulgent when he first law has been neglected.
~ Voltaire, 1674 – 1778, letter 1740
Namaste
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Page Links:
The Oxford Book of Aphorisms, John Gross, Oxford University Press, 1983
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/
http://www.monumentum.fr
