To Understand the World

And the children said unto Halcolm, "We want to understand the world.  Tell us, O Sage, what must we do to know the world?"

"Have you read the works of our great thinkers?"

"Yes, Master, every one of them as we were instructed."

"And have you practiced diligently your meditations so as to become One with the infinity of the universe?"

"We have, Master, with devotion and discipline."

"Have you studied the experiments, the surveys, and the mathematical models of the Sciences?"

"Beyond even the examinations, Master, we have studied in the innermost chambers, where the experiments and surveys are analyzed, and where the mathematical models are developed and tested."

"Still you are not satisfied?  You would know more?"  "Yes, Master, we want to understand the world."

"Then, my children, you must go out into the world.  Live among the people of the world as they live.  Learn their language.  Participate in their rituals and routines.  Taste of the world.  Smell it.  Watch and listen.  Touch and be touched.  Write down what you see and hear, how they think and how you feel."


"Enter into the world.  Observe and wonder.  Experience and reflect.  To understand a world, you must become a part of that world while at the same time remaining separate, a part of and apart from."


"Go then, and return to tell me what you see and hear, what you learn, and what you come to understand."