tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053228078235295504.post7838443880997109695..comments2010-02-07T23:40:50.856-08:00Comments on Wealthing (R): Solving the puzzleAlicia Castillo Holleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04315775481606398642noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053228078235295504.post-68379100114485983802009-03-29T00:54:00.000-07:002009-03-29T00:54:00.000-07:00It is about completing the journey and not the goa...It is about completing the journey and not the goal<BR/><BR/>I am only 18 and am in no way in any position to give advice or quote qords of wisdom.<BR/><BR/>Nevertheless I am a fan of poetry, and i would just like to quote a few lines from my favourite poem ‘The Journey of the Magi’ by ‘T.S Elliot’.<BR/><BR/>This poem by Elliot is a recount of the journey that the 3 Magi took to have a glimpse of Baby Christ. The poem specifically talks about the journey of the Magi. The 3 Magi left behind their luxurious and comfortable lives and undertook a gruelling and extremely difficult journey full of darkness and danger to have a glimpse of Baby Christ. They face numerous hardships and set- backs. But after months of struggle they finally reach their destination, and it is at this point that they say:<BR/><BR/>‘and so we continued<BR/>And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon<BR/>Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.<BR/>All this was a long time ago, I remember,<BR/>And I would do it again’<BR/> -Journey of the Magi<BR/><BR/><BR/>The Magi battle all odds and reach their destination, but the feeling on arriving at their goal was just ‘Satisfactory’.<BR/>The Magi return back to their lands changed men. In the ‘process’ of reaching Baby Jesus they had died and been reborn. The whole experience had brought about a realisation. They had elevated to a new state of emotional maturity. They now return back to their homes changed men, they can no longer connect to their previous lives, they have this feeling of alienation.<BR/>The bitter journey was full of agony and pain and it had changed them fundamentally. They had died and been reborn. The feeling of exhilaration they had anticipated on reaching the goal was not so, and yet: <BR/><BR/>‘this Birth was<BR/>Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.<BR/>We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,<BR/>But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,<BR/>With an alien people clutching their gods.<BR/>I should be glad of another death.’<BR/><BR/> -Journey of the Magi<BR/><BR/>...and yet, the Magi were ready to undertake yet another journey of change to rediscover themselves. It was the journey and not the destination that had brought about a change in them , it was the journey that decided the merit of the goal. The Magi were ready to once again undertake the painful process of dying and been reborn, because the satisfaction lay in the journey and not in the goal.<BR/><BR/><BR/>PS: <BR/>The poem ‘Journey of Magi’ was written by Elliot when he had undergone conversion of faith. Through the magi he symbolically talks about his journey from one faith to another. It is an extremely innocent revelation of his mental state during this mental transition. Elliot says that the process of conversion brought about a sense of satisfaction, and he was ready to re-do this painful process for it is the journey that is of importance. It is the journey that teaches us lessons and makes us they way we are, and not the goal.<BR/><BR/> The Journey of the Magi : Poem<BR/><BR/><BR/>"A cold coming we had of it,<BR/>Just the worst time of the year<BR/>For a journey, and such a long journey:<BR/>The was deep and the weather sharp,<BR/>The very dead of winter."<BR/>And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,<BR/>Lying down in the melting snow.<BR/>There were times we regretted<BR/>The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,<BR/>And the silken girls bringing sherbet.<BR/>Then the camel men cursing and grumbling<BR/>And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,<BR/>And the night-fires gong out, and the lack of shelters,<BR/>And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly<BR/>And the villages dirty, and charging high prices.:<BR/>A hard time we had of it.<BR/>At the end we preferred to travel all night,<BR/>Sleeping in snatches,<BR/>With the voices singing in our ears, saying<BR/>That this was all folly.<BR/>Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,<BR/>Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;<BR/>With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,<BR/>And three trees on the low sky,<BR/>And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.<BR/>Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,<BR/>Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,<BR/>And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.<BR/>But there was no information, and so we continued<BR/>And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon<BR/>Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.<BR/>All this was a long time ago, I remember,<BR/>And I would do it again, but set down<BR/>This set down<BR/>This: were we lead all that way for<BR/>Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,<BR/>We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,<BR/>But had thought they were different; this Birth was<BR/>Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.<BR/>We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,<BR/>But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,<BR/>With an alien people clutching their gods.<BR/>I should be glad of another death.<BR/><BR/>-Journey of Magi’Namanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17444657341639086998noreply@blogger.com