searching

it seems as though it were in another lifetime that i first picked up ken gire's windows of the soul. perhaps even, it was another life, as this book was my introduction to so many of the things that have shaped me into who i am today. rilke. the gift from the sea. kierkegaard. van gogh.

so tonight, when i picked it up to look for a quote from vincent van gogh, it was like a visit from an old friend... one who in many ways knows me better than i know myself.

i've already confessed that i haven't been reading a great deal as of late. and truly, it was probably an unrealistic goal to think that i would get tomes read while i wasn't feeling well. {i did, however, almost finish a cara black mystery!} but tonight, with laundry done and folded for another week, once i finish writing this post, i am going to turn everything except the light beside my bed off, and read until the letters begin dancing around the page.

the following quote, the one that started all this, is one that i try to carry with me through libraries and art galleries wherever i go. it's as true with vincent's starry night as it is with the bible. in a letter to his sister, he wrote,

you read books to borrow therefrom the force to stimulate your activity... but i read books searching for the man who has written them. {vincent van gogh}

one is consumeristic. the other strives to be the very opposite. it tries not to see something in light of a singular narrow view, but rather attempts to envision what the artist or author's heart was on the other side of the finished product. as a writer, no matter how much or how little my words may impact others lives, they are first and foremost a reflection of who i am and the journey that i am on. i could receive no greater compliment than for someone to look beyond and see the heart and passion behind the words i have written...

which is why i pulled the book off the shelf tonight. reminders are a good thing...