The Restory Retreat Centre

Large Small The Conversation Elements From The Conversation With our love. George & Matilda  

  Groot Klein Die Gesprek Elemente Uit Die Gesprek Met ons liefde. George & Matilda

  Did You Know? The Conversation  Elements From The Conversation  Music With our love. George & Matilda 

  Het Jy Geweet? Die Gesprek  Elemente Uit Die Gesprek  Musiek Met al ons liefde. George & Matilda 

Incalculably Diffuse   The Conversation Elements From The Conversation The ending of Middlemarch is densely woven with layers of meaning that one can dwell on for a long time. The following authors are good guides that help us make it even fuller and deeper: Where Eliot speaks of “unhistoric acts”, Robinson in her book Gilead points to meaning that often falls outside the sphere of historians and is not proclaimed in news headlines - meaning that continues to reside precisely in the ordinary everyday. One of the inconvenient truths of Eliot's quote is this: the people who contribute the most often have no idea they are doing it. There is no strategy, or self-knowledge, or moral achievement in them. Only availability. Our influence is not always the result of what we do, but of who we are. The last line in Middlemarch remains shockingly honest: “rest in unvisited tombs.” No plaque or statue. Just a trail that continues in other people’s lives. Communities are not built by exception...

Onberekenbaar Verspreid   Die Gesprek Elemente Uit Die Gesprek Die slot van Middlemarch is dig geweef met lae betekenis waarby mens lank kan stilstaan. Die volgende skrywers is goeie gidse wat ons help om dit nog voller en dieper te maak: Waar Eliot praat van “unhistoric acts”, wys Robinson in haar boek Gilead  op betekenis wat dikwels buite die sfeer van die geskiedskrywers val en nie in nuusopskrifte verkondig word nie - en juis in die gewoon alledaagse bly woon. Een van die ongemaklike waarhede van Eliot se aanhaling is dit: die mense wat die meeste bydra, het dikwels geen idee dat hulle dit doen nie. Daar is by hulle nie strategie, of selfkennis, of morele prestasie nie. Net beskikbaarheid. Ons invloed is nie eers altyd die gevolg van wat ons doen nie, maar van hoe ons is. Die laaste reël in Middlemarch bly skokkend eerlik: “rest in unvisited tombs.”  Geen gedenkplaat of standbeeld nie. Net ’n spoor wat in ander mense se lewens voortgaan. Gemeenskappe word nie gebou d...

Photograph by Matilda Clifford If we had a keen vision and feeling of all  ordinary human life, it would be like  hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's  heart beat, and we should die of that roar  which lies on the other side of silence.                                   George Eliot