It’s not about belief …



You and I have been given a pile of lumber and a small plot of ground. Being human, we each build a house. Being human, and not apes or whales, we don’t even think about building something other than a house. We need – a need deeper than our human bodies demand – shelter from the cold of night, the heat of day, the rain and wind and fearsome beasts of the wilderness all around. So we build houses, for the comfort of body and soul.



Most of the lumber… Continue

Long Names

 

The names we give things – particularly living things – are too short to say what needs to be said.

 

In Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea, wizards are able to work magic if they know the true name of the thing they wish to enchant.  Everything has a name in the language of the Making as well as its common name.  The word for stone – “tolk” – is part of the name of every stone, but every stone – and every drop of water in the sea – has its own name…

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