Dear Readers,
Our next session will be next Wednesday, May 25th, starting at 3:15.
Update: What shall we read after “Wind, Sand and Stars”? One member requested something by Bernard Malamud, and I mentioned “The Natural”, the only story by Malamud that I know. However, I don’t think I officially announced this. In the meantime, that member recommended a short story by Malamud called “Rembrandt’s Hat”. I will bring copies of this to our next session. I hope not everyone has already bought “The Natural”.
We will discuss the last 3 sections of St. Exupery’s “Wind, Sand and Stars”:
- Chapter IX, pages 174-189 – the Spanish Civil War
- Chapter IX, section VI pages 215-224.
- Chapter X – conclusion.
A request:
I had to re-install my computer’s OS last weekend (what fun!) and I have lost all my email addreses. Could I trouble you to send me an email? Thank you in advance.
We talked if we believe this: “It is another of the miraculous things about mankind that there is no pain nor passion that does not radiate to the ends of the earth. Let a man in a garret but burn with enough intensity and he will set fire to the world.” (p177)
Suppose, when you smile, the smile is contagious and spreads from people to people to the ends of the earth. So would be goodness, or revolutionary ideas to make the world be better off. And besides, when someone’s pain or suffering become shared by the world, it’s time to work together to find the solution to ease the pain. Unbelievable? Impossible? This passion is one of the things that I like about him.
Saint-Exupery used imagination in poetic language while C.S.Lewis used myth as a tool to tell the truth.
Though May 25th session may be a receding memory….
“What can men do to make known to themselves this sense of deliverance?” (p174) Saint-Exupery finally found inner peace when his life was nearing to death lying buried in sand. Sheffner-sensei’s question was “How can we find the inner peace, not in the special condition (like facing death), not by chance but consciously?”
I think the answer is pp215-224. “It is only when we become conscious of our part in life, however, modest, that we shall be happy. Only then will we be able to live in peace and die in peace, for only this lends meaning to life and to death.” (p222)