Just sitting meditation is attention to the present.
Wandering attention is returned to the present.
Just sitting is practice in awareness of the present and in letting go of the past.
In Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization:
David Falkayn lets go of the Polesotechnic League to lead the colonization of Avalon;
Nicholas van Rijn lets go of the League to lead an expedition outside known space;
Adzel and Chee Lan let go of any idea of a leisured retirement because they must prepare their peoples for the troubles to come;
if Aycharaych survives the bombardment of Chereion, then he must let go of the Chereinonite heritage;
the Merseians of the Roidhunate must let go of their plan for galactic conquest;
in the Long Night, humanity has let go of Technic Civilization;
Daven Laure must let go of the idea of marrying a Kirkasanter.
In the Time Patrol universe:
"...I had been warned at the beginning that a Time Patrol agent's life becomes a series of farewells. I had yet to learn what that really meant." (p. 351)
-copied from here.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I would have liked to know more about Old Nick last great voyage of exploration and how far he went. My guess is that happened five to ten years after the events in MIRKHEIM.
I suspect only repeated defeat and disappointment would force the Merseians to give up their dream of conquering the Galaxy.
The problem with mankind letting go of Technic Civilization is that it's fall was an agonizing process attended by war, chaos, barbarian invasions, economic collapse, etc., when the Empire finally fell. To say nothing of all the bad secondary and tertiary consequences!
Sean
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