Guangzhou YMCA TOEFL  week 4:  2007/01/04                                home page         




So, how shall we proceed this week ? 

This is 'week 4' of our group's journey. Four weeks, twenty eight ( er-shi-ba ) days:
the time eclipsed by a full circuit 'round the Earth in Fair Luna's ("like a wondrous 
maiden, with white fire laiden") timeless sojourn though the heavens. A full circle -
constituting a journey in itself, of course, and also the haunting obsession of our
ancestors that helped weave some twisted strings of magic and religion before such 
quaint ideas were fettered - bound forevermore by the stronger cords of reason and 
science  ...  right ?!  (-;

Why do we take the Journey ? Any Journey ? 

We take the journey, as does the Moon, to get back to the beggining, to the starting
point, and in being there once more to better understand that point - the point of our
beginning. Perhaps, for some, it is to try to understand  the point of 'all beggining';
to try to see how life or the world or consciousness began, and to restle for awhile
with the question nipping endlessy at mankinds heel: 

"What the heck is the meaning of life"?.
 
      Let us go then, you and I,
      When the evening is spread out against the sky
      Like a patient etherized upon a table;
      Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
      The muttering retreats
      Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
      And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
      Streets that follow like a tedious argument
      Of insidious intent
      To lead you to an overwhelming question . . .
      Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
      Let us go and make our visit. ....  ( TS Elliot )

right.

So, we will return, at least for a brief time this week, to the beginning, with some
discusion and with some reading (with note-taking this time!), to try to better understand
where we started and where this Lunar cycle has taken us. How did we start ? How did this
first short journey go ? How can we make the next cycle from behinning to end more benificial 
to all of us ? 

For the next 4 weeks, which will most likely not be a lunar cycle because of winter break,
what other celestial roads shall we travel? Will we set our own course, or will we, like the
overwhelming mass of mankind, simply close our eyes and play 'follow the leader'?

So, how shall we proceed this week ?