what once was

A passage from the book <n>The Mountain Is You</n> by author <n>Brianna Wiest</n>.

I want to feel part of **everything** again. I want to look at the sun and feel like the rays are shining through me. I want to look at the flowers and feel delicate and ephemeral. I want to look at the people smiling on the streets and feel suddenly happy.
I want to feel part of **everything** again. 

A still from the 1954 film <n>Sansho the Bailiff</n>, directed by <n>Kenji Mizoguchi</n>.

Actor <n>Haydee Politoff</n> in a still from <n>La Collectionneuse</n> (1967), directed by <n>Éric Rohmer</n>.

In solitude, we learn to allow things to grow slowly and gently. To feel cradled in the quiet; to feel whole as you are. Marilynne Robinson once said, “I grew up with the confidence that the greatest privilege was to be alone and have all the time you wanted. That is the cream of existence.”

<n>The Death of Marat I</n>, a 1907 painting by artist <n>Edvard Munch</n>.