The Feathered Sun

One of the four books I keep in a thick piece of cloth and take out now and again, just to look at the images: The Feathered Sun (Schuon); The Meaning of Icons (Lossky and Ouspensky); Calligraphy (Martin Lings); and Moorish Spain (Titus Burckhardt).

The lack of idle chatter. Concentration. Commitment. Community. Stoicism. The love of "old times", of the elders.

Of course the westerns loved to play up the so-called "rugged individualism" of the settlers. And who knows, maybe there's a grain of truth to that. But surely a lonely individualism based on destruction and hatred can't be compared to an individualism that flourishes in, is nurtured by, a settled pattern of life, a life that thinks of earth as "divine" because it was prior to the creation of Man. (This notion of animals being "communities like us" finds resonance in some Islamic traditions).

But no matter what, the westerns couldn't but help, even if subconsciously, bear witness to the courage of the Red Man and the often duplicitous nature of the settlers. This isn't a political point (politics doesn't really interest you). The sheer irony, though, of calling the attack on OBL operation Geronimo. As every kid growing up in my time would know -and probably from before as well-to shout Geronimo! whilst doing some daring act, or making a charge for it was, even when we were only dimly aware of it, a sign of being able to put our weaker selves to one side in order to become more than ourselves.

One Feather:

"What can never be taken from a man is his upbringing; it can neither be taken away nor sold. Everyone must discipline his character and shape his personality. If one lets oneself go, one falls and must bear the responsibility for it. "