{"id":18846,"date":"2017-01-20T06:39:06","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T11:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=18846"},"modified":"2017-01-20T10:28:42","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T15:28:42","slug":"even-in-the-heart-of-the-heart-of-darkest-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/even-in-the-heart-of-the-heart-of-darkest-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Even in the Heart of the Heart of Darkest Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'Hide<\/a><\/p>\n

[Image: “Hide & Seek,” a photo by Marian Hilditch on Flickr<\/a>. (Used here under a Creative Commons license.) The only information provided by the photographer: “I don’t know who those four looking over Dozy Tony are, but I always think of them as The Residents.\u00a0 A mr clement exhibition at Pyrus\/The Basement Gallery, London – 2\/12\/2010 – 20\/1\/2011.” I did locate this “mr clement’s” own page about the exhibition<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

From whiskey river<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

There is a difficulty with only one person changing. People call that person a great saint or a great mystic or a great leader, and they say, “Well, he’s different from me—I could never do it.” What’s wrong with most people is that they have this block—they feel they could never make a difference, and therefore, they never face the possibility, because it is too disturbing, too frightening.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(David Bohm [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Old Age of Nostalgia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined future, of being carried away in streams of promise by a love or a passion so strong that one felt altered forever and convinced that even the smallest particle of the surrounding world was charged with purpose of impossible grandeur; ah, yes, and one would look up into the trees and be thrilled by the wind-loosened river of pale, gold foliage cascading down and by the high, melodious singing of countless birds; those moments, so many and so long ago, still come back, but briefly, like fireflies in the perfumed heat of summer night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Mark Strand [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It seems that a profound, impartial, and absolutely just opinion of our fellow-creatures is utterly unknown. Either we are men, or we are women. Either we are cold, or we are sentimental. Either we are young, or growing old. In any case life is but a procession of shadows, and God knows why it is that we embrace them so eagerly, and see them depart with such anguish, being shadows. And why, if this — and much more than this is true — why are we yet surprised in the window corner by a sudden vision that the young man in the chair is of all things in the world the most real, the most solid, the best known to us — why indeed? For the moment after we know nothing about him.<\/p>\n

Such is the manner of our seeing. Such the conditions of our love.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Virginia Woolf [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Myth, then, is the form in which I try to answer when children ask me those fundamental metaphysical questions which come so readily to their minds: “Where did the world come from?” “Why did God make the world?” “Where was I before I was born?” “Where do people go when they die?” Again and again I have found that they seem to be satisfied with a simple and very ancient story, which goes something like this:<\/p>\n

…there are times when the world is, and times when it isn’t, for if the world went on and on without rest for ever and ever, it would get horribly tired of itself. It comes and it goes. Now you see it; now you don’t. So because it doesn’t get tired of itself, it always comes back again after it disappears. It’s like your breath: it goes in and out, in and out, and if you try to hold it in all the time you feel terrible. It’s also like\u00a0 the\u00a0 game\u00a0 of\u00a0 hide-and-seek,\u00a0 because\u00a0 it’s\u00a0 always\u00a0 fun\u00a0 to\u00a0 find\u00a0 new ways of hiding, and to seek for someone who doesn’t always hide in the same place.<\/p>\n

“God\u00a0 also\u00a0 likes\u00a0 to\u00a0 play\u00a0 hide-and-seek,\u00a0 but\u00a0 because\u00a0 there\u00a0 is\u00a0 nothing outside\u00a0 God,\u00a0 he\u00a0 has\u00a0 no\u00a0 one\u00a0 but\u00a0 himself\u00a0 to\u00a0 play\u00a0 with.\u00a0 But\u00a0 he\u00a0 gets\u00a0 over this\u00a0 difficulty\u00a0 by\u00a0 pretending\u00a0 that\u00a0 he\u00a0 is\u00a0 not\u00a0 himself.\u00a0 This\u00a0 is\u00a0 his\u00a0 way\u00a0 of hiding from himself. He pretends that he is you and I and all the people in\u00a0 the\u00a0 world,\u00a0 all\u00a0 the\u00a0 animals,\u00a0 all\u00a0 the\u00a0 plants,\u00a0 all\u00a0 the\u00a0 rocks,\u00a0 and\u00a0 all\u00a0 the stars.\u00a0 In\u00a0 this\u00a0 way\u00a0 he\u00a0 has\u00a0 strange\u00a0 and\u00a0 wonderful\u00a0 adventures,\u00a0 some\u00a0 of which\u00a0 are\u00a0 terrible\u00a0 and\u00a0 frightening.\u00a0 But\u00a0 these\u00a0 are\u00a0 just\u00a0 like\u00a0 bad\u00a0 dreams, for when he wakes up they will disappear.<\/p>\n

“Now when God plays hide and pretends that he is you and I, he does it so well that it takes him a long time to remember where and how he hid\u00a0 himself.\u00a0 But\u00a0 that’s\u00a0 the\u00a0 whole\u00a0 fun\u00a0 of\u00a0 it—just\u00a0 what\u00a0 he\u00a0 wanted\u00a0 to\u00a0 do. He\u00a0 doesn’t\u00a0 want\u00a0 to\u00a0 find\u00a0 himself\u00a0 too\u00a0 quickly,\u00a0 for\u00a0 that\u00a0 would\u00a0 spoil\u00a0 the game.\u00a0 That\u00a0 is\u00a0 why\u00a0 it\u00a0 is\u00a0 so\u00a0 difficult\u00a0 for\u00a0 you\u00a0 and\u00a0 me\u00a0 to\u00a0 find\u00a0 out\u00a0 that\u00a0 we are\u00a0 God\u00a0 in\u00a0 disguise,\u00a0 pretending\u00a0 not\u00a0 to\u00a0 be\u00a0 himself.\u00a0 But\u00a0 when\u00a0 the\u00a0 game has\u00a0 gone\u00a0 on\u00a0 long\u00a0 enough,\u00a0 all\u00a0 of\u00a0 us\u00a0 will\u00a0 wake\u00a0 up,\u00a0 stop\u00a0 pretending,\u00a0 and remember that we are all one single Self—the God who is all that there is and who lives for ever and ever.<\/p>\n

“Of\u00a0 course,\u00a0 you\u00a0 must\u00a0 remember\u00a0 that\u00a0 God\u00a0 isn’t\u00a0 shaped\u00a0 like\u00a0 a\u00a0 person. People\u00a0 have\u00a0 skins\u00a0 and\u00a0 there\u00a0 is\u00a0 always\u00a0 something\u00a0 outside\u00a0 our\u00a0 skins.\u00a0 If there\u00a0 weren’t,\u00a0 we\u00a0 wouldn’t\u00a0 know\u00a0 the\u00a0 difference\u00a0 between\u00a0 what\u00a0 is\u00a0 inside and outside our bodies. But God has no skin and no shape because there isn’t any outside to him. [With a sufficiently intelligent child, I illustrate this\u00a0 with\u00a0 a\u00a0 M\u00f6bius\u00a0 strip—a\u00a0 ring\u00a0 of\u00a0 paper\u00a0 tape\u00a0 twisted\u00a0 once\u00a0 in\u00a0 such\u00a0 a way that it has only one side and one edge.] The inside and the outside of God are the same. And though I have been talking about God as ‘he’ and\u00a0 not\u00a0 ‘she,’\u00a0 God\u00a0 isn’t\u00a0 a\u00a0 man\u00a0 or\u00a0 a\u00a0 woman.\u00a0 I\u00a0 didn’t\u00a0 say\u00a0 ‘it’\u00a0 because\u00a0 we usually say ‘it’ for things that aren’t alive.<\/p>\n

“God\u00a0 is\u00a0 the\u00a0 Self\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 world,\u00a0 but\u00a0 you\u00a0 can’t\u00a0 see\u00a0 God\u00a0 for\u00a0 the\u00a0 same reason\u00a0 that,\u00a0 without\u00a0 a\u00a0 mirror,\u00a0 you\u00a0 can’t\u00a0 see\u00a0 your\u00a0 own\u00a0 eyes,\u00a0 and\u00a0 you certainly can’t bite your own teeth or look inside your head. Your self is that cleverly hidden because it is God hiding.<\/p>\n

“You\u00a0 may\u00a0 ask\u00a0 why\u00a0 God\u00a0 sometimes\u00a0 hides\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 form\u00a0 of\u00a0 horrible people,\u00a0 or\u00a0 pretends\u00a0 to\u00a0 be\u00a0 people\u00a0 who\u00a0 suffer\u00a0 great\u00a0 disease\u00a0 and\u00a0 pain. Remember,\u00a0 first,\u00a0 that\u00a0 he\u00a0 isn’t\u00a0 really\u00a0 doing\u00a0 this\u00a0 to\u00a0 anyone\u00a0 but\u00a0 himself. Remember, too, that in almost all the stories you enjoy there have to be bad people as well as good people, for the thrill of the tale is to find out how the good people will get the better of the bad. It’s the same as when we play cards. At the beginning of the game we shuffle them all into a mess,\u00a0 which\u00a0 is\u00a0 like\u00a0 the\u00a0 bad\u00a0 things\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 world,\u00a0 but\u00a0 the\u00a0 point\u00a0 of\u00a0 the game is to put the mess into good order, and the one who does it best is the winner. Then we shuffle the cards once more and play again, and so it goes with the world.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Alan Watts [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image: “Hide & Seek,” a photo by Marian Hilditch on Flickr. (Used here under a Creative Commons license.) The only information provided by the photographer: “I don’t know who those four looking over Dozy Tony are, but I always think of them as The Residents.\u00a0 A mr clement exhibition at Pyrus\/The Basement Gallery, London – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Mark Strand, Virginia Woolf, and especially Alan Watts: 'Even in the Heart of the Heart of Darkest Darkness'","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393],"tags":[684,1211,3344,4481,4482],"class_list":{"0":"post-18846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ruminations","8":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","9":"tag-mark-strand","10":"tag-alan-watts","11":"tag-david-bohm","12":"tag-virginia-woold","13":"tag-trying-not-to-think-too-hard-about-the-day","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/hideandseek_marianhilditch_thumb.jpg?fit=480%2C321&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-4TY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18846"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18875,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18846\/revisions\/18875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}