Wednesday, October 24, 2007

SUNNY FALL AFTERNOON WALK IN PLAIN, WASHINGTON






















Yesterday there was a break in this dark cloudy fall in Western Washington, so I took a long walk in Whatcom Falls Park.

Still enjoying looking at my photos of Eastern Washington in the fall. While I was there, there were cloudy days and even some rain. The ground was basically dry, though.

"You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought, once. So did we all. And the truth is that as a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he MUST do."

(Ursula K. LeGuin, from A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA)

4 comments:

Loren said...

Now there's a frightening thought, especially when one looks to reconsider his options in life.

am said...

I see your point. The thought wasn't frightening in the context of that book, though. It was about a young man's experiences with the uses and abuses of power. The character seemed to be saying that he had learned through painful experience that there are many ways that power can be misused, even with good intentions, and that as he grew in the process of facing the difficulties in his life, he had no choice except to use his power selflessly. I especially like Ursula LeGuin's translation of the Tao Te Ching. She writes from a Taoist perspective where power is not what it seems to be.

Loren said...

Yes, I certainly enjoyed her translation, though I'm not sure if that's the one I'll choose when I re-read it after I finish some commentary on a book about T'ai Chi.

I think that all power is frightening since it has the potential of doing both harm and good, and it's not always clear what it good and what is bad. I suppose that's where wisdom comes in.

If so, I wish I had much more wisdom than I actually do have.

am said...

I wish I had more, too.