Out Of Sight

Terran cities have been ravaged in "The Star Plunderer" but Terra is fully urbanized in Ensign Flandry. What has happened? Time has passed while our attention has been elsewhere. We have read "Sargasso of Lost Starships" and The People Of The Wind which are set out in the galaxy while some historical time is elapsing.

Something important happening off-stage and out of sight is an important dramatic concept, I think. We cannot be everywhere and, while we are engaged with important experiences here, important matters are being completed over there. In the Coronation service, the Archbishop anoints the partly disrobed King. This must not be seen by the congregation or, by extension, the television audience. What happened last Saturday was that elaborate screens were carried in and erected around the main participants. I think that a much more appropriate ceremonial would have been for the Archbishop, the King and a couple of attendants to withdraw to a side chapel and, after a suitable interval, return with the King now anointed although with no visible change. We would know what had happened but not have seen it.

There is a Buddhist ceremony to celebrate the Buddha's enlightenment, death or both. It is a bit like Easter. The meditation hall is full of lighted candles, a potential fire hazard. After a while, all the candles are extinguished, plunging everyone into darkness. After some time in the dark, all the candles are relit from a single candle that had been kept lit all the time outside the room. Thus, a significant symbol is physically enacted. The light was there when we did not see it.