Silver On The Tree - Susan Cooper
For Christmas this past year, my younger brother and his wife gave me a boxed set of books by Susan Cooper. It was her fantasy sequence titled "The Dark Is Rising", the story of how Will Stanton, Bran Davies, Merriman Lyon, and a host of others battle the forces of darkness in this world.A wonderful series. I actually already owned all five of the books - have had them since I was a kid. But they are falling apart because I read them so much as a kid. So Jonathan and Melody thought it was about time I got them replaced. I agree.
So, I decided to sit down and reread them all. And I'm currently in book five, which is titled "Silver On The Tree". In this book, Will Stanton and Bran Davies are looking for a crystal sword called Eirias. And a man named Gwion tells them about the maker of the sword, and how he lives his life in despair. It's a wonderful quote, and I thought I'd share it here for your consideration:
Quote:
| They showed the maker of the sword his own uncertainty and fear. Fear of having done the wrong thing - fear that having done this one great thing, he would never again be able to accomplish anything of great worth - fear of age, of insufficiency, of unmet promise. All such endless fears that are the doom of people given the gift of making, and lie always somewhere in their minds. And gradually, he was put into despair. Fear grew in him, and he escaped from it into lethargy - and so hope died and a terrible paralyzing melancholy took its place. He is held by it now, he is held captive by his own mind. He, and the sword Eirias that he made, with him. Despair holds him prisoner, despair, the most terrible creation of all. For in great men, the mind can produce giant spectres of great power. |
It's an interesting quotation, because in one paragraph Cooper has made a commentary on aging, and on creative genius, and has tied the two together, by pointing out that those with creative genius tend to dread and fear the fading of their gifts as they age.
But I don't think you have to be a creative genius to understand that; I think everyone fears the fading of old age to some extent, because everyone wants to have some lasting impact that goes beyond them and their short lives. For many, that lasting impact comes through the lives of their children, for others through the works of their hands, or the works of their minds.
And behind all of it is a desire to be honored, and to be remembered long after we are gone. Perhaps the creative ones have that fear the worst, because they have a greater hope of being remembered and honored, so their fear is greater.
Posted On May 1, 2005 at 4:44 AM
On May 1, 2005 Doug wrote: Well, after posting this I went to church, and Pastor B talked about a related subject. As part of his message he talked about some people whose memory lives on because of things they did. His Bible example was the woman who annointed Jesus' head:
Mark 14:9
Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken in memory of her.
Odd...she wasn't seeking honor, yet because of her love and devotion, she received it, and people remember and speak of her two thousand years later!
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