'Lawrence was a prophet and now is a God. Those who follow his example and come into touch with him, may be visited by him—a great gift—and if he so chooses he may bestow sun-glory upon a man.'
This reminded me of Pope Benedict's comment, 'Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.'
Not to equate DHL with Christ - except that they're both Sun Men - but both quotes speak, it seems to me, in the same register. Contact with the Divine - i.e. with the Real - is not about theory or reading or good works or following prescribed actions, worthy as all these may be. It's about encounter with the god. That's the 'great gift', as you put it, Benedict's 'new horizon and decisive direction.' That's when life begins.
I appreciate that it's probably not easy to discuss, but I was wondering to what extent your own encounter with Lawrence has informed your life and work. Would these essays have come about, for instance, if you hadn't met him? Do you think he has more to say? To yourself or to us? What wider, cosmic role do you sense that he's playing now?
'The music of the celestial spheres has never left us: it is still there, ever-present for all those who live with silence and a heart open to the Gods.' Yes, 100%. So I think you're a little harsh when you say that the rot began with Western Medieval Christendom. I know it had its dry, rationalistic side, but Dante's Paradiso, for instance, is replete with this idea of celestial harmony and the music of the spheres. CS Lewis, who took his cue from Dante in so many ways, picks up the baton with his Space Trilogy and Narnia books, where he presents a living, breathing, dynamic cosmos, the very opposite of the endless but sterile stellar wasteland that we've been told to believe in.
I'm also not convinced that contemporary man's overriding passion is growth and conquest. I think that ship's sailed. For better or worse. The energy just isn't there any more. People are turning in on themselves and losing themselves in simulacra. So Klages is spot on here: 'Many, likewise, are oppressed by the wretched and ever-increasing tedium of this existence. In no earlier time was unhappiness greater or more poisonous.'
That's why we need the Real. That's why we need encounter. That's why we need gods. That's why we need DHL.
'Lawrence was a prophet and now is a God. Those who follow his example and come into touch with him, may be visited by him—a great gift—and if he so chooses he may bestow sun-glory upon a man.'
This reminded me of Pope Benedict's comment, 'Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.'
Not to equate DHL with Christ - except that they're both Sun Men - but both quotes speak, it seems to me, in the same register. Contact with the Divine - i.e. with the Real - is not about theory or reading or good works or following prescribed actions, worthy as all these may be. It's about encounter with the god. That's the 'great gift', as you put it, Benedict's 'new horizon and decisive direction.' That's when life begins.
I appreciate that it's probably not easy to discuss, but I was wondering to what extent your own encounter with Lawrence has informed your life and work. Would these essays have come about, for instance, if you hadn't met him? Do you think he has more to say? To yourself or to us? What wider, cosmic role do you sense that he's playing now?
'The music of the celestial spheres has never left us: it is still there, ever-present for all those who live with silence and a heart open to the Gods.' Yes, 100%. So I think you're a little harsh when you say that the rot began with Western Medieval Christendom. I know it had its dry, rationalistic side, but Dante's Paradiso, for instance, is replete with this idea of celestial harmony and the music of the spheres. CS Lewis, who took his cue from Dante in so many ways, picks up the baton with his Space Trilogy and Narnia books, where he presents a living, breathing, dynamic cosmos, the very opposite of the endless but sterile stellar wasteland that we've been told to believe in.
I'm also not convinced that contemporary man's overriding passion is growth and conquest. I think that ship's sailed. For better or worse. The energy just isn't there any more. People are turning in on themselves and losing themselves in simulacra. So Klages is spot on here: 'Many, likewise, are oppressed by the wretched and ever-increasing tedium of this existence. In no earlier time was unhappiness greater or more poisonous.'
That's why we need the Real. That's why we need encounter. That's why we need gods. That's why we need DHL.
I second that, if I may. Thanks, indeed.