"No need to hurry. No need to sparkle." is a quotation from the Virginia Woolf book "A Room of One's Own." It is at the end of a beautifully written paragraph describing the luncheon party her character is at. Her character remains rather aloof from the rest of the party, choosing to sit in a picture window watching the signs of the approaching autumn, and thinking to herself. Contemplating the festivities going on around her. Here is my favorite section of the paragraph:
"Meanwhile the wineglasses had flushed yellow and flushed crimson; had been emptied; had been filled. And thus by degrees was lit, halfway down the spine, which is the seat of the soul, not that hard little electric light which we call brilliance, as it pops in and out upon our lips, but the more profound, subtle and subterranean glow, which is the rich yellow flame of rational intercourse. No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself."
I love this paragraph. I love the situation it describes: Among friends, settling into real, deep, meaningful conversation. The moment when all of our masks drift away and we reveal our true selves to each other. Time disappears and we appreciate the moment we are in, while we are in it.
This is obviously something that can only happen in person. I intend to use this blog to portray as well as possible through written word, the important moments in my life. The ones I appreciate while they are happening. I view it as a letter I have to write only once, and let family and friends choose to read it or not to read it.
I always think of the Last Supper as being this situation. They weren't really partaking of body and blood; they were sharing the depths of their souls. This is what we should do in memory of him.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great (and apt) quote! I didn't know you were a Woolf fan! Have you read A Voyage Out?
ReplyDeleteI have not read "A Voyage Out." I am a rather limited Woolf fan. I read "To the Lighthouse" in high school, and I could tell that I loved it, but I think I was too young to appreciate it. Now I try to read it at least once a year to see if I am old enough yet. I think this will be the year! "A Room of One's Own" was the first of her other books that I have read. Next will be "Mrs. Dalloway," simply because I already have it.
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