20 May 2006
Dear All,
We are presently concluding a week in Paris. The first day here, I managed almost miraculously to secure a wireless connection from the flat, but this has scarcely worked since, and there is now no telling when this communiqué might take wing. I love all of you who respected my request not to send emails during this email hiatus; the others I will need to have a think on. The lovely Toyota gift from Marion and Leslie has been a dream conveyance, and we plan to fetch 'Myrna' tomorrow from Monique's in Columbe and drive as close to Freiberg in Germany as we can.
Richard is recovering from the 'slap' in the face he received before we left Amsterdam. Some days are better than others, but he continues to amaze me with his overall resilience and progressive ability to assimilate insult and rejection. It's always a 'live and learn' process.
London and Bath have been sandwiched between The Netherlands and La France. My lovely daughter continues to amaze on all fronts. There was also a beautiful day – not the weatherman's forecast – for the London 'sacred geography' tour with the Sophia contingent, seemingly the last of a special generation. Tea at Sally Lunn's in Bath with two of my favourite students: lovely Lynne who only becomes increasingly radiant, and stunning Amy with that unique combination of intelligence, youthful beauty, independence, adventure and comfortable balance. Sherrill dazzled with her talk at the INFORM conference on possession as Sherrill always does. And then we were off.
For both of us, Paris continues as a great love – a perpetual balm for the soul. Over the years of re-visiting, I have come to find the Paris experience akin to the reading of a favourite book. The urban tapestry here stimulates the allocation of one's energy resources and provides endless opportunities and occasions for the flowering of spiritual imagination. I have learned on this encounter that ultimately we cannot blame people for doing what they have to do, that is, for being themselves, though we can continue to stress to them the necessity to consider seriously the sacred notion of equability. The ancient geography of Lutèce has revealed itself in yet a new mode, and when I found myself gazing into the eyes of Spes within St. Étienne-du-Mont, I discovered her pleading for help – and I vowed to her then and there that I would continue my mission and seek to restore and regain the glory and communication we have lost as children yet guests of this wondrous planet.
Much of this Parisian legacy is imperial, and, as a consequence, there is much insight to be gained that is relevant to our contemporary world. All empires thrive upon an imposed dualism – a divide between 'us and them', 'rulers and ruled', the privileged and the unprivileged. If instead there is to be collective advance rather than advantage for only the selected few, America must now learn to grovel. It has to apologise toward major reversals, acknowledgments and getting the slate clean. I fully realise that the requisite attitude and articulation is not to be found within the capacity nor vocabulary of the present American administration. But we can hope – hope for change, hope for growth, hope for the entzauberungen (if I have that word anything close to being correct), the necessary re-enchantment that Weber desired to counter the growing stasis of bureaucracy and diminishing vision. May the non-hegemonic majority finally have its day and prevail.
We have enjoyed two of our favourite Mexican restaurants: Anahuacalli and Á la Mexicaine (Zapatas on 18th Street in San Francisco is our third). And we have dinned sumptuously on home-cooked meals prepared by Françoise and by Anne. We had a nostalgic moment in the Beaubourg with "Los Angeles 1955-1985, naissance d'une capitale artistique," and we have seen three films: Transamerica, The Da Vinci Code and Mrs. Henderson Presents. We have visited our beloved Tea Caddy, and we have walked, walked and walked – along the Seine, across the Seine and beyond the Seine.
A brief peak at the Black Forest is next. May all be well,
Michael