[Marianne]

Hi Stephen,

Now it is letting my type be seen! The first few times I tried to respond to your beautifully compelling questions, this site would not let the type be seen. Now it is working again–

Stephen, the questions you write at the end of your post are lovely:

Where, then, lies the danger? What is the risk to hearing that song?

I return to Circe’s warning, that those who hear the Sirens’ song will never find home. Brave Ulysses must be lashed to the mast, his sailors’ ears plugged with beeswax, his men warned to ignore his entreaties to free him to follow that song. It would seem the danger isn’t so much hearing the song as pursuing it once it’s heard.

Is this an experience only for the rare soul – the shaman, the epic hero, the astronaut floating in space? Must we plug our ears with beeswax and bend our backs to the oars – or is this an opportunity within our reach? If so, to what mast must we be bound to be saved? Who are our oarsmen, to see us past this compelling peril?

It sounds like a good intro to a very good book. I love this poetic thread.

Thank you, All, so nice to hear people’s voices!

~Marianne