The book ILLUMINATIONS: Art Embracing Awareness, co-written by Frantisek Strouhal, Jakub Strouhal, and Chantal Robert, approaches the mystery of life and healing through various platforms of the beauty of art and prose—what delights the eye opens one to deeper levels of awareness. It is written in heartfelt prose while celebrating the creative process through Frantisek’s poignant, ethereal images. The book offers a wonderful means to help anyone step closer to finding the key to a better life by slowing down and paying attention to where and who we are. The visual artist, Frantisek Strouhal, through his layered descriptions, his landscapes, and portraits, encourages us to consider the fugitive immateriality of the world…The end result is a switching between different levels of reality, from the mundane to the exalted to the sublime and back. The surreal quality of his work is a treat to observe. The images offer a haunting appeal… yet the work presents a sense of peace at the same time.
Here are the links to the books:
Here’s a sample poem from the book:
To be free
“All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.” —Blaise Pascal
The more we investigate the possibility of freedom, the more we realize that freedom begins when we let go of who we think we are. We have to let go of the persona that craves praise and is easily hurt, easily bored.We must leap into an unfamiliar landscape and emerge as the person we always were. With open arms, we embrace our everyday existence, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to the mountains, the waters, and the vagaries of fellow humans. We sense freedom not only in ourselves, but everywhere.
It is up to each one of us to make the choice: to be free or not. And we must choose it, every day, with our entire being—with our mind, our heart, our soul.
