Power must subside for the sake of life·
The Red Book: A Reader’s Edition (Philemon)
The Mighty One feIl. He lies on the ground.
Power must subside for the sake of life·
The circumference of outer life should be made smaller.
Much more secrecy, solitary fires, fire, caverns, dark wide forests, sparsely
peopled settlements, quietly flowing streams, silent winter and summer nights,
small ships and carriages, and secure in dwellings the rare and precious.
From afar wanderers walk along solitary roads, looking here and there.
Hurrying becomes impossible, patience grows.
The noise of the days of the world falls silent, and the warming
fire blazes inside.
Sitting at the fire, the shades of those gone before wail softly and give news
of the past.
Come to the solitary fire, you blind and lame ones and hear of both kinds
of truth: the blind will be lamed and the lamed will be blinded, yet the shared
fire warms both in the lengthening night.
An old secret fire burns between us, giving sparse light and ample warmth.
The primordial fire that conquers every necessity shall burn again, since
the night of the world is wide and cold, and the need is great.
The well protected fire brings together those from far away and those who
are cold, those who do not see one another and cannot reach one another, and
it conquers suffering and shatters need.
The words uttered at the fire are ambiguous and deep and show life the
right way.
The blind shall be lamed, so that he will not run into the abyss, and the
lamed shall be blind, so that he will not look at things beyond his reach with
longing and contempt.
Both may be aware of their deep helplessness so that they will respect the
holy fire again, as well as the shades sitting at the hearth, and the words that
encircle the flames. ~Carl Jung; Red Book.
