| Perhaps the logical question to ask at this point is: Why Go? The answer is that when a man has been there and undergone the baptism of solitude he can’t help himself. Once he has been under the spell of the vast, luminous, silent country, no other place is quite strong enough for him, no other surroundings can provide the supremely satisfying sensation of existing in the midst of something that is absolute. He will go back, whatever the cost in comfort and money, for the absolute has no price. | |
| — Paul Bowles | |
| From his book: “Their Heads are Green and Their Hands are Blue: Scenes from the Non-Christian World“ | |
| [The quote was originally found at one of the blogs I follow: “Live And Learn” on DavidKanigan.com | |
| The specific post: http://davidkanigan.com/2016/05/14/saturday-morning-le-bapteme-de-la-solitude/ | |
| a site well worth checking out. — kmab] | |
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Gordian »
Something That Is Absolute
January 6, 2017 by kmabarrett
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Kevin Barrett's Blog 
Lol! This is one of those posts of mine where you only get the part that tickled my ear.
If you click through to Dave’s site you’ll see he has a post about visiting the open desert. The post reminded me that for some it’s the open sea, for others a mountain range or the Grand Canyon, and for some it’s the open desert. In my mind, it’s the immensity and the majesty. The stars above in the Milky Way or a vast plain of wheat grain rippling in the evening wind.
Are you a fisherman? How about sitting in the middle of a lake, fishing as the sun comes up and begins to burn the mist from the surface of the lake. For a few minutes you don’t care if the damned things bite or not, because the moment right then is perfect…
When you are touched by open spaces, your soul longs to return to them. It is the “absoluteness” of it. There’s probably a hundred ways to describe it, but unless I accidentally hit the one experience you’ve had, you may never “grok” it.
It’s being a child and hearing the poem: “All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by…” Like I said, sometimes a particular set of words tickle my ear and take me to another place and time…
Sorry, what am I missing? I don’t get it.