Chapter 1: Day 3: Loomings
I haven’t even finished the second page of the book yet! Ishmael continues directing my attention to the ocean: “Once more. Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. [. . . ] Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.”
Musing: And so we have the start of the book and I have been taken by Ishmael to meet many of the themes that will develop. The idea of going to the water as a cure for the city dweller, for humanity at large, as a form of magic, and as meditative. And, since everyone already knows this, I have to agree that ‘meditation and water are wedded.’
I think about a beach a few hours from my own inland city. It is always full. It draws folks out from across the state. It isn’t pretty, but it’s water and after a time, it is magic.
I am all in with Ishmael on this trip. He is telling me a story, showing me where to go, how to see things. I trust this version of Ishmael, though I never thought much of him in previous readings. Let’s see how gullible I actually am!
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