I was reminded of the book The Elegance of the Hedgehog from Heather’s post here where she mentions watching the film based on the book…
If you have Netflix, try typing in The Hedgehog. The results will come up with this image…
Muriel Barbery is a professor of philosophy and you will find this book filled with philosophical principles throughout. Some of my favorite quotes from The Elegance of the Hedgehog:
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“Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside she is covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary–and terrible elegant. ”
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“I may be indigent in name, position, and in appearance, but in my own mind I am an unrivaled goddess -”
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“When something is bothering me, I seek refuge. No need to travel far; a trip to the realm of literary memory will suffice. For where can one find more noble distraction, more entertaining company, more delightful enchantment than in literature?”
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“..when I say that “he’s a truly nasty man,” I mean he has so thoroughly renounced everything good that he might have inside him that he’s already like a corpse even though he’s still alive. Because truly nasty people hate everyone, to be sure, but most of all themselves. Can’t you tell when a person hates himself? He becomes a living cadaver, it numbs all his negative emotions but also all the good ones so he won’t feel nauseated by who he is.”
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“…what I dread more than anything else in this life is noise…silence helps you to go inward..anyone who is interested in something more than just life outside actually needs silence.”
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Some Personal Thoughts:
After lunch, I am heading out to the library to pick out a few books to read over the weekend.
Reading is something I have not made enough time for. In my previous posts here and here, I mentioned clearing off my plate to some degree and removing some of the busyness that I was creating for myself. It is not that what I was doing did not have value. I felt passionate about it at the time. The problem is that I allowed it to take over as I do with any “project” I am working on.
When I put myself into something it is 100%. I become focused, determined and blinded at the same time. And, if I am to be completely honest, I struggle with what should be a priority and what should not.
There are a lot of things I didn’t make time for and I regret it.
Watching my mother-in-law slowly die and the sudden death of my father has put a lot of those things into a different perspective for me. I am not so ready to fling myself into another project at this time. Right now, my focus is on what matters in my life – my family & my home – and not become blinded by distractions to point of allowing them to take over.
