Saturday 9 July 2011

I'm reading 'The Art of James Christenson - The Art of Imagination, as told to Renwick St James', and right at the beginning of the book he writes of meeting up with an old friend whom he discovers never takes his 30 minute drive home from work in the same way.

'That resonated in my own life. Like many people in this age of getting there faster, I sometimes lose sight of the journey in the light of the goal.  What my friend had done with a simple change in his routine was to leave space for the unexpected within the bounds of ordinary life.......My friend Ralph found a simple way to keep his evening drive from becoming routine.  I like that idea , that within an ordinary life you can leave space for noticing the world around you and keeping alive the inner universe of imagination.'
The Art of James Christenson - The Art of Imagination, as told to Renwick St James

I was suddenly taken back to a memory of walking to and from school aged about six or seven. Remembering how I used to pretend I was a foreign person, who had never been that way before, so everything I encountered I was meeting for the first time.  The small red-brick houses with their walled or hedged gardens contained plants I'd never seen before, the tall green trees, waved their leaves in patterns on the pavements in a sunlight I had never walked into before.  The small side-streets led away right and left to hidden pathways I'd never trodden before.

'In the universe of the mind lie treasures and surprises, fertile soils and elegant creations, new angels and old dragons, visions of other worlds and the quiet contemplation of death.'
The Art of James Christenson- The Art of Imagination, as told to Renwick St James.

8 comments:

WOL said...

I remember walking home from school. There was a park halfway there that I used to walk diagonally across. I didn't walk "home" exactly. I walked to the house of the neighbor lady who kept us after school, since my mother worked, too.

Splenderosa said...

You always touch things close to our souls. Walking home from school, yes, I do remember. Does anyone do this anymore? Does anyone take time? I don't think so. Sending love....

Teresa Evangeline said...

There's always something new to see when we really take the time. Besides the universe changing, so are we and our perspective. It makes life endlessly fascinating. That sounds like a good book to look into.

Susan McShannon-Monteith said...

We should all take the long way home now and again...
When you mentioned pretending you were a foreign person 'The World of Henry Orient' with Peter Sellers immediately came to mind.
Hope you're enjoying your Summer.
Susan x

Ciara Brehony said...

Oh, how lovely! I still do this to this day. A favourite pastime of mine.
To always see the world anew. Surely this is one of the reasons we pause and take a picture, real or imagined. Ones of the reasons we blog?

Thanks so much for this!

Ruthie Redden said...

I love this idea, it is all to easy to get stuck into a routine and forget to "see" things properly, thank you for the reminder x It reminded me that i used to pretend I was on holiday in the place i lived and so would look at it through new eyes, amazing what i noticed then.

Jacqueline @ HOME said...

Dear Jane,
I have so many memories of my daily walks to school ( many years ago now !! ) ....and, how different everything was depending on the season. Summer was hot, even in the morning and I had my summer uniforn on. Then the 6 weeks holiday, when school was out and, if we walked that way in the holidays, it all felt so different. Then the Autumn and the spiders webs hanging with dew. Winter was thick coats, gloves and sliding in fresh falls of snow that had iced over a little overnight and then Spring came and a feeling of freshness and all things new. Plus, all of the houses along the way, about which we made up stories, and the park, and there was a museum that always looked rather scary.
Thanks so much for your lovely comment Jane. I feel so sad about all of the rioting. Some is quite near to us but I guess that can be said about most places in the UK. I know that I live a lovely life and had a wonderful childhood and that others don't have much, are abused and live in dire circumstances but, I don't think that has anything to do with the looters and the ones who are burning down buildings. Some think that the world owes them and they want everything. Here's hoping that it will calm down soon.
Hope you are feeling well at the moment Jane and are enjoying the summer. XXXX

Half-heard in the Stillness said...

Thank you my dear friends for all your lovely comments! Each and every one of them is cherished.

Jane