Back home! Amongst my family, home and books. I read a passage (from Royce's The Rediscovery of the Inner Life) this morning that very much made me think of Marsha. (parenthetitcal comments my own MoQ interpretation)
Every true lover has in the beginning of his love grave doubts of his beloved's affection for him. And such doubts often take on bitter and even cynical forms in his soul in the various bad quarters of an hour that fall to his lot. Doubt, however, is not the foe, but the very inspirer of his love. It means that the beloved is yet to be won. It means that the simple warmth of his aspiration isn't enough, and that, if the beloved is worth winning, she is worth wooing through doubt and uncertainty for a good while. Moreover, it is not the fashion of the beloved to be especially forward in quelling such doubts, by making clear her attitude too soon. If it were, love-making might be a simple affair, but would not be so significant an experience as it is. Doubt is the cloud that is needed as a background for love's rainbow. Even so in the world of abstract thought. The more serious faiths of humanity can only be won, if at all, by virtue of much doubting. The divine truth (DQ) is essentially coy. You woo her, you toil for her, you reflect upon her by night and by day, you search through books, study nature, make experiments, dissect brains, hold learned disputations, take counsel o the wise; in fine, your prepare your own ripest thought, and lay it before your heavenly mistress when you have done your best. Will she be pleased? Will she reward you with a glance of approval? Will she say, Thou has well spoken concerning me? Who can tell? Her eyes have their own beautiful fashion of looking far off when you want them to be turned upon you; and, after all, perhaps she prefers other suitors for her favor. The knowledge that she is of sufficiently exalted dignity to be indifferent to you, if she chooses, is what constitutes the mood known as philosophical skepticism. It is not then, a deadening and weakening mood; it is the very soul of philosophical earnestness (caring). Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
