Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Orion in December, 1959; watercolor and pencil on paper, 39 7/8 x 32 7/8 inches; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, August 27, 1914
Friday, Aug 23, 2013
As man is to the earth, so is the earth to the universe—only millions of times intensified, for the universe has no bounds, and our earth has. And yet men keep their noses in their Bibles, Korans, etc and fondly imagine that we are the only people, that our earth is the only inhabited planet, that the whole universe exists for our benefit, when our earth is only one of millions of others, someday perhaps to be like the moon, a satellite for some other planet which will support a new human life, who in turn will ogle at our dead planet and speculate as to what composes the shifting sands of which our bodies are a part.
The immortality of the soul exists in the deeds that live after the man has turned to dust.
Charles E. Burchfield, August 27, 1914