63 bar rises 29.78 0mph W dew-point 54 Summer night, cool
Waxing Gibbous Thunder Moon
Travelers and Magicians is a Bhutanese movie, the first one I’ve seen. It’s theme spoke to the question, “What is your dream for this stage of your life?” A Bhutanese official, newly appointed to work in a small mountain village, has an opportunity to go to America. He considers himself modern, hip and wants very much to go. On the road he meets many travelers, one a monk who tells him a tale of a young man who studied to be a magician. There is a Canterburyesque flavor to the movie, a pilgrimage story of a sort.
It reminded me most of Emerson, who spoke of the futility of going to Italy to see beautiful things, when beauty is a notion within each of us. The young official also meets a beautiful girl on the road, one he learns plans to return to her village to help her aging father. By the end of the movie it is clear that he will return to the village.
A strong and persistent strain of my thinking in the last few years has focused on just this notion. Where we are is where we will become who we are. This is true, for me, I believe. Here in Andover, removed from the urban thrum, the constant action of political and religious life diminished by distance, is where I will become an old man, an elder.
My dream for this stage of my life is not yet as focused as the other three dreams I mentioned: revolution, children and writing. Even so, its outlines seem clear. As I have until now, I will continue to support and nourish the dreams I have for political change, a healthy nuclear and extended family and writing. The nesting or embedded nature of these dreams will remain, not get left behind.
Here are the emerging elements of my dream for this stage. Kate and I will, together, create a paradigm for optimal living on suburban and exurban lots of 1+ acres. We will focus our home and energy on supporting creative activity. Somewhere in the mix, I believe, is Kate’s commitment to medical services for the poor.
Or not. I don’t know. This next phase hasn’t gelled in my thinking. It may be that I don’t need a dream for this stage, that I’m already living it.
