The first time I saw Kafka’s quote, it was displayed on the wall in my client’s clutter free office. Obviously of personal significance, I asked what the quote meant to him. Why did he have it displayed where it would be a daily reminder?
He spoke of how much can be missed in every day hurried lives. “We are driven so much to ‘do’ to achieve. We often miss the beauty before us in daily wonders. We forget to just be still and witness.”
You need not leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
You need not even listen, simply wait.
You need not even wait, just learn to be quiet
And still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you
To be unmasked. It has no choice;
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Franz Kafka
We have not left our rooms, literally and figuratively for awhile now. This passage always offers a sense of comfort to me. Recognizing beauty in the quiet spaces is grounding and fuels the spirit.
How could we ever be bored when the sky above changes in fleeting moments before us, offering unique and different views every single day? I am ceaselessly amazed, moment to moment, watching it unfold.
Both of these new sky paintings are moments in the quiet spaces. A picnic at dusk, listening to waves kiss the shore while clouds soared above in golden shimmering light.
My sunrise runs in the crisp air of winter. Bearing witness to dramatic swaths of colour blazing across the sky, while deer slept in deep pockets of snow nearby.
The world will freely offer itself to you
To be unmasked. It has no choice;
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Franz Kafka
New Work
“Star” 18×24 original oil $1,330.oo
“Sunset Glow” 20×30 original oil