Perfection is reached, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A sculptor in his sunlit studio contemplates a cold block of marble. Within that stone, he alone sees the beautiful shape wanting to emerge. So he strips away everything else to get to that image. Cutting, chipping, sanding, polishing till he’s down to perfection.
That’s my ideal when I write, to get down to the pure essence of the matter. I instinctively write short, saying the most I can with the fewest words. Too many words clutter the landscape and get in the way of the story.
Now I find the same principle at work as I look at home design. Where is my home bigger, more bloated than it needs to be? What’s the excess that’s getting in the way of the best use of my house? For that matter, what’s the primary purpose of my house?
Ah, now we’re talking. What do I want from my house? A shelter to live in? A mansion to impress my friends? Or an estate to maintain? Do I want a palace to rule from? A fortress with which to intimidate? Or a museum to fill with beautiful things? Do I just want a home for my family?
If I don’t know what I want, how will I know when I have it? If I get what I don’t want, I’m dissatisfied and so I want more. Maybe it’s not more I want, but different.
You can’t get enough of what you don’t really want. That’s the root of excess. Even better, it’s the key to simplicity. Know what you want, and why. When you have it, it will be enough. Strip away everything else and you may just discover the image of what was tucked away in your soul as happiness.
Sometimes contentment comes not from having more, but having less.
1 comment:
And to complicate the problem even further, sometimes knowing what you want changes when you get the thing and you realize it wasn't what you wanted at all.
thanks for stopping by and talking closets at my site.
Post a Comment