"The Horn of Time the Hunter."
"The sentence was just: to go exploring to the fringes of the galactic nucleus. Perhaps they would find the Elder Races that must dwell somewhere; perhaps they would bring back the knowledge and wisdom that could heal man's inborn lunacies. Well, they hadn't..." (p. 16)
Knowledge and wisdom are to be found where we are. In our meditation group, we recite a text that includes the line:
"It is futile to travel to other dusty countries, thus forsaking your own seat."
(This was written by Dogen who did travel from Japan to China in search of authentic Buddhism.)
A man from England went to Tibet only to be told that the place that he sought was in his own country. Returning home, he settled in Glastonbury, believing that this was the place that was meant. Someone said to me, "Wasn't it amazing that that Tibetan described Glastonbury to him?" He didn't. He just told him to go home! In Angus MacVicker's The Atom Chasers In Tibet, the titular characters go to Tibet in search of a document which, it is said, will bring peace to the world. The mysterious document, when found, turns out to be a Biblical passage with which they are familiar.
We should travel to the galactic center for scientific knowledge, not for wisdom or peace.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
While I agree that whatever wisdom mankind may incompletely attain will have to come from within ourselves, I would not scorn trying to find knowledge elsewhere. Both scientific and philosophic.
Ad astra! Sean
For it is not in the bright arrival planned
But in the journeying along the way
We find the Golden Road to Samarkand.
Or as the old saying goes, sometimes you have to leave home to find it.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And I think Marcus Aurelius said something which may have been very similar in his MEDITATIONS.
Ad astra! Sean
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