St Christopher

According to the legend, St Christopher, the patron of all travellers, felt an arrogant pride in his tremendous physical strength, and was willing to serve only the strongest. First he served a king; but when he saw that the king feared the devil, he left him and became the devil's servant. Then one day he discovered that the devil feared the Crucifix, and so he decided to serve Christ if he could find him. He followed the advice of a priest who told him to wait for Christ at a ford. In the years that passed, he carried many people across the river. But once, in a dark, stormy night, a small child called out that he wanted to be carried over the river. With the greatest ease, St Christopher lifted the child on to his shoulders, but he walked more slowly with every step, for his burden became heavier and heavier. When he arrived in mid-stream, he felt "as if he carried the whole universe." He realized then taht he had taken Christ upon his shoulders -- and Christ gave him remission of his sins and eternal life.

This miraculous child is a symbol of the Self that literally "depresses" the ordinary human being, even though it is the only thing that can redeem him.

The Process of Individuation, M L von Franz

T S Eliot

"The awful daring of a moment's surrender,
which an age of prudence can never retreat."


The Waste Land

mystery

"Animus ad amplitudinem Mysteriorum pro modulo suo dilatetur; non Mysteriaad augustias animi constringantur."

(Let the mind, so far as it can, be open to the fullness of the mysteries;
let not the mysteries be constrained to fit the narrower confines of the mind.)

Bacon

Gospel of Thomas

"If you bring forth what is within you,
what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is within you,
what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

Gospel of Thomas

http://www.gnosis.org

No one understands

"No one understands, only a poet could begin to understand."

Carl Jung

All things ephemeral

All things ephemeral
Are but a reflection;
The unattainable
Here finds perfection;
The indescribable
Here it is done;
The Eternal Feminine
Still draws us on.

James Joyce

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a
yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

© 1915 Robert Frost

My fav net radio

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/

From E M Brainard

Who never wept knows laughter but a jest;
Who never failed, no victory has sought;
Who never suffered, never lived its best;
Who never doubted, never really thought;
Who never feared, real courage has not shown;
Who never faltered, lacks a real intent;
Whose soul was never troubled has not known
The sweetness and the peace of real content.