![]() Of Empires heave but like some passing waves. Lash’d from the foam of ages while the graves Our bubbles as the old burst, new emerge, Of time and tide rolls on, and bears afar How less what we may be! The eternal surge ‘Twixt night and morn, upon the horizon’s verge. It is titled Dare to Know.īetween two worlds life hovers like a star, The painting at the top is a piece from last year that remains a favorite of mine. But its words ring true in these times where those who know better refuse to reason sensibly, where those without an ability to reason follow those who play to their foolishness, and those that dare not to step forward to speak against fools and bigots is forever enslaved to these same fools and bigots.ĭare to reason. Whether it was Drummond or Lord Byron doesn’t really concern my use of it. The last line of this quote from Scottish philosopher William Drummond is often mistakenly attributed to Lord Byron. ![]() Philosophy, wisdom, and liberty support each other he, who will not reason, is a bigot he, who cannot, is a fool and he, who dares not, is a slave. Prejudice may be trusted to guard the outworks for a short space of time, while Reason slumbers in the citadel but if the latter sink into a lethargy, the former will quickly erect a standard for herself. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.” But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. “We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. But, as he points out, when you get past that discomfort, the rewards of solitude are rapturous. I suppose initially, for those who have been always in the society of others and seldom alone, this may be the case when faced with solitude. He mentions it as being a way of bitter suffering. Hermann Hesse put it well in the excerpt below from his book, Reflections. But knowing that I will soon be back on my island where the only conversation taking place is in myself. My regular life has me out in the world, interacting with people on a regular basis. I have my own little island of solitude here in my studio but I am not isolated. Of course, this is not a practical matter for most of us. It is in these conversations that we come to better understand that we are both small and large, insignificant yet integral. The lap and roar of the sea becomes language as does the light of the sun and moon as it sifts through clouds above. ![]() Alone on a shore, one can begin to hear and converse with nature. The lines above from Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage express this feeling well. A freedom that allows one to experience clear glimpses of our connection with all being. But for myself, it represents a total freedom of the self, one that allows one’s absolute truth to emerge. Some people might look at this painting with a little discomfort, seeing in it isolation and loneliness. I don’t know if solitude is for everybody. This painting is titled Solitude’s Rapture. The show,my 20th solo effort at the Alexandria gallery, is titled Redtree: New Growth and opens on June 7. This another new painting, coming in at 24″ by 24″ on canvas, that is headed to the Principle Gallery for my annual solo show there. ![]() ― Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage I love not man the less, but Nature more” ![]() “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, ![]()
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