knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;

Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but originality is the highest form of imitation! Indeed, there is “nothing new under the sun”; hence, why I am now going to quote T.S. instead of make any attempt at originality. :~)

“The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,
The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.
O perpetual revolution of configured stars,
O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,
O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.”
~T.S. Eliot (Choruses from ‘The Rock’)

While camping at Hume Lake up near Kings Canyon, I had the opportunity to go almost every morning into the Christian Camp there (which we affectionately call “town”) and sit on the bridge from which you can see one of the best views of the lake; probably one of my favorite views in the world. I would often sit there and read Eliot. What’s strange to me is that I can read Eliot and not understand what he’s talking about, but when I see a particular beauty or understand some previously hidden concept, I find myself reciting him. It’s as if he states in advance the only appropriate expression of what I am yet to experience. I find that I can’t understand him unless, even if I can’t yet express it, I have already experienced what he’s talking about. Anyway, anyone have any thoughts on the excerpt??? I always get more out of Eliot with a little dialogue. :~)