Tuesday 30 October 2018

Whereabouts Unknown

"[Download Guthrie] had since withdrawn, and not yet been heard from. His whereabouts were unknown."
-Poul Anderson, Harvest Of Stars8, p. 107.

This passage reminded me of a poem quoted by Alan Watts:

“I asked the boy beneath the pines.
He said: the Master’s gone alone
herb picking somewhere on the mount,
cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown.”
Chia Tao
-copied from here.

However, Guthrie would not have been contemplative.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Guthrie would have been more like Martha, the sister of Lazarus, whom Christ raised from the dead. Martha was busy and active, taking care of practical things. Their sister Mary was the one who preferred to sit and listen to the Lord. Martha and Mary has become metaphors for the active and contemplative life.

Btw, Kipling wrote a poem called "The Sons of Martha," about how much we need practical, sensible people.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
At school, our English teacher read us a poem that was Martha's reply. She referred to food to be cooked and dishes to be washed and kept repeating, "It's all very well!"
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I have some sympathy for Martha while also respecting contemplatives! (Smiles)

Sean