The Students of the Ineffable
What I am about to say happened years ago. I had rented a house
by the sea. Each night I sat on the porch and wished for some
surge of feeling, some firelit stream of sound to lead me away
from all that I had known. But one night, I climbed the hill behind
the house and looked down on a small dirt road where I was sur-
prised to see long lines of people shuffling into the distance. Their
difficult breathing and their coughing were probably caused by
the cloud of dust their march had created. “Who are you and why
is this happening?” I asked one of them. “We are believers and
must keep going”, and then he added, “our work is important
and concerns the self.” “But all your dust is darkening the stars,” I said.
“Nay, nay,” he said, “we are only passing through, the stars will
return.”