The Collection of Geniuses

(A couple of years ago, I posted a few of the parables of Safed the Sage, which was a popular series of columns written by the Rev. William Eleazar Barton about a century ago. For some reason I was thinking about Safed again recently, and so here's another.)

There came to our city a Woman who called often at the house wherein we abide, and she counted herself a friend of Keturah. And I asked of Keturah saying, Is this Susie person married or single?

And Keturah answered, Both.

And I said, It is just about what I should have expected.

And Keturah said, She hath many of the marks of Genius, and she knoweth many persons who are Geniuses. Yea, and she hath invited us to spend an evening with her and meet a Group of her Friends, all of whom are Geniuses in their way.

So we went, I and Keturah, and we spent an evening in the Flat of Susie. And she trotted out her Geniuses.

And there was a Poetess who wrote Vers Libre so wonderful that it could not be told from Prose. And there was a Musician who played his Violin after a new theory which maintained that Music should have neither Melody nor Harmony nor Key nor Time, but reach High Levels of Soul through Free Interpretation. And there was an Author, who had writ a Great Book, so profound that no Publisher could understand it or see the need of publishing it. And there was a woman who had a New Theory of Thought-Transmission, and interpreting Morals in terms of Music, and Music in terms of Color.

And Susie introduced them to us, one by one, and I and Keturah were about the only people there who were not Geniuses. So they began every man and woman of them to tell us their Theories.

And when we came away, we were weary, and we walked not, but ordered a Taxi.

And Keturah said, It was a Great Social Triumph for Susie.

And I answered, Yea.

And Keturah said, And I was Bored.

And I said, So was I, unless there be in the Dictionary some word which meaneth the same and then some.

And I said, Keturah, Thou are no Genius, neither am I. But thou are mighty Good and Wonderous Sensible, and I am a Philosopher, which is, being interpreted, a man with Good Ordinary Common Sense.

And Keturah said, An evening with a Choice Assortment of Geniuses is like unto a Feast in a Pickle Factory.

And I said unto her, God hath need of mighty few Geniuses; and as for a job lot like that we have met, it is of the Lord’s mercies that they are not consumed. Let us be thankful that in this world are so large a number of Commonplace Sensible Folk.

Advent reflection

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’” Luke 2:13-14

Advent reflection

“And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow:
Look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing!
O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing!”
Edmund H. Sears

Advent reflection

“When all the people of the world love,
Then the strong will not overpower the weak.
The many will not oppress the few.
The wealthy will not mock the poor.
The honored will not disdain the humble.
The cunning will not deceive the simple.”
Mo-Tse

The Shortest Day

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome, Yule!

--Susan Cooper

Advent reflection

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1

Advent reflection

“And I saw the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father.” Black Elk

Advent reflection

“O come, desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease;
Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.”
Henry Sloane Coffin

Advent reflection

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Isaiah 9:2

Advent reflection

“They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson