Thursday, May 24, 2012

Il dolce far niente. The sweetness of doing nothing. Diary Entry: Venice, Nov. 15th


…I may be, for aught I know, being silently steered to my death.  I care not; I recline on the cushions, and seem to feel the smooth water slipping underneath; this is enough; this is Venice…

What I like about this passage is the moment of enjoyment of being reclined in a gondola in Venice, and not needing anything else.  This is enough, explains the narrator and indeed it is.  At times we exert ourselves too much in the seeking of pleasure.  Being in a place like Venice reminds us that we need not work so hard for enjoyment; that we can sit back and let our senses and surroundings provide us with immense fulfillment.  Although such pleasure is described here in the context of Venice, it can indeed be found in even the simplest of environments if we keep ourselves receptive to it.      


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