Markings, Part 4

If you're just tuning in...

16.  He came with his little girl. She wore her best frock. You noticed what good care she took of it. Others noticed too -- idly noticed that, last year, it had been the best frock on another little girl.
In the morning sunshine it had been festive. Now most people had gone home. The balloon sellers were counting the day's takings. Even the sun had followed their example, and retired to rest behind a cloud. So the place looked rather bleak and deserted when he came with his little girl to taste the joy of Spring and warm himself in the freshly polished Easter sun.
But she was happy. They both were. They had learned a humility of which you still have no conception. A humility which never makes comparisons, never rejects what there is for the sake of something "else" or something "more." (71)

17. He received -- nothing. But for that he paid more than others for their treasures. (77)

18. Work as an anesthetic against loneliness, books as a substitute for people -- ! You say you are waiting, that the door stands open. For what? People? Is not the Etna for which Empedocles is waiting, a fate beyond human companionship? (82)

19. Now you know. When the worries over your work loosen their grip, then this experience of light, warmth, and power. From without -- a sustaining element, like air to the glider or water to the swimmer. An intellectual hesitation which demands proofs and logical demonstration prevents me from "believing" in this, too. Prevents me from expressing and interpreting this reality in intellectual terms. Yet, through me there flashes this vision of a magnetic field in the soul, created in a timeless present by unknown multitudes, living in holy obedience, whose words and actions are a timeless prayer.
--The Communion of Saints" -- and -- within it -- and eternal life. (84)

20. Never, "for the sake of peace and quiet," deny your own experience or convictions. (84)