“I am too restless to watch long; I am too Occidental for a long vigil. I could work at a problem for years, but to wait inactive for twenty-four hours — that is another matter.
The Time Traveler in H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.
Over Christmas I read H.G. Wells The Time Machine as a light distraction. I came across the above quote which summarized for me one of our central problems: we are too busy. The malady is deeper in that, while we complain about our busyness, in truth we like it. Given space we want to fill it. “What ought I to be doing now?”
In Epiphany we consider each year the Magi from the east who come to worship the Christ child. Those from the Orient each year remind those in the Occident that there is another world. East meets west.
Clearly H.G. Wells considered the western drive to plan, fix, invent and change things virtuous. Yet, perhaps Thomas Merton was right. Is it time that we learned from the east? Perhaps it is time to wait.
+ Ab. Andrew
The Time Traveler in H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.
Over Christmas I read H.G. Wells The Time Machine as a light distraction. I came across the above quote which summarized for me one of our central problems: we are too busy. The malady is deeper in that, while we complain about our busyness, in truth we like it. Given space we want to fill it. “What ought I to be doing now?”
In Epiphany we consider each year the Magi from the east who come to worship the Christ child. Those from the Orient each year remind those in the Occident that there is another world. East meets west.
Clearly H.G. Wells considered the western drive to plan, fix, invent and change things virtuous. Yet, perhaps Thomas Merton was right. Is it time that we learned from the east? Perhaps it is time to wait.
+ Ab. Andrew