October 05, 2007
The Occasional Attention to Beauty
To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich;
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart;
to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently,
await occasions, hurry never;
in a word,
to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common -
this is my symphony.
---"Symphony" by William Henry Channing
He was wont to say: “Men are so inclined to content themselves with what is commonest; the spirit and the senses so easily grow dead to the impressions of the beautiful and perfect, that every one should study, by all methods, to nourish in his mind the faculty of feeling these things. For no man can bear to be entirely deprived of such enjoyments: it is only because they are not used to taste of what is excellent, that the generality of people take delight in silly and insipid things, provided they be new. For this reason,” he would add, “one ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
-- from Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship"
Photo note: The cliche editor approved a flower picture in honor of the occasion - honeysuckle rose
Posted by Dakota at October 5, 2007 05:46 PM