On the Depths and Mysteries of the Universe

Date November 1, 2008

cloudy-night
[photo by jjjohn]

“Look,” he said. “This landscape of clouds and sky. At first glance you might think that the depths are there where where it is darkest; but then you realize that the darkness and softness are only the clouds and that the depths of the universe begin only at the fringes and fjords of this mountain range of clouds– solemn an supreme symbols of clarity and orderliness. The depths and mysteries of the universe lie not where the clouds and blackness are; the depths are to be found in the spaces of clarity and serenity.

—Herman Hesse
from The Glass Bead Game

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2 Responses to “On the Depths and Mysteries of the Universe”

  1. Jared S. said:

    November 1st, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    I alternate between reverence and dismissal of Hesse’s novels: there are some I cherish; there are some I disdain. And inevitably I will doubt these feelings. But you’ve reminded me why reverence is probably more consistently apt.

  2. Rashida said:

    November 7th, 2008 at 4:59 am

    And the “spaces of clarity and serenity” are the spaces in between what we physically experience and tangibly see.