A Pause for Beauty:
An artist’s journal.
Maybe people lose their dreams.
The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.
- Goethe
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
- William Blake
The Journey Itself Is Home
All things are transient on this earth, be it power, glory, wealth, and even entire civilizations. All we can do is to put our full love into our lives, professions, and families, making a work of art of the few precious years that are granted to us.
- Most Of All, They Taught Me Happiness, a book by Robert Muller
I will tell you what I think -- my philosophy. When we were children the world was fresh; everything is new, we can do whatever we want. Yes! We think we maybe will be doctor, maybe climber, maybe sailor. . .we can be anything! Then we grow older, we get tired. People give up. Everyone settle down, no more see the beauty of the world. Maybe people lose their dreams. Always I have tried to live in the world with the heart of a child, to see the wonder, all of the beautiful things. . .
- Naomi Uemura. Naomi died on the side of Denali shortly after writing that letter to a friend. He had just turned 43. In addition to being the first person to solo Denali (and he did it in the winter which is particularly challenging), he was also the first person to dogsled alone to the North Pole. He went on many challenging solo adventures, including rafting down the Amazon.
He lived a big life, and then died pursuing a dream. Living life as an adventure means accepting the basic premise that it is better to die young of a life well-lived than to die a little bit each day living a risk-free existence.
To read more thought-provoking quotes on the beauty and mystery of life, see