The Novel
Philosophy tells you about presence. A story, if it works, puts you in it.
This novel is an attempt to uncover what lies hidden behind the veil of abstraction, and the transformative possibility of direct, unmediated contact with reality.
It begins one day after a fortuitous befalling, and follows the journey of a life changed by a single, unlikely meeting.
The novel is currently in progress. What follows is from the opening chapter.
The day I met Sayağntayama was one day after a fortuitous befalling. 'Fortuitous befalling' is what I call it because that is most certainly what it was, although perhaps it might make more sense to think of that whole time as a fortuitous befalling, not just one extraordinary event which happened on a day that preceded a day like any other.
Was it fate? Written in the stars? I cannot say… All I can tell you is what I believe, which is that it is beyond my comprehension to think that meeting Sayağntayama one day after a fortuitous befalling did not involve some form of intervention by forces that science cannot yet explain. As an apple falls, and we now call the reason for it 'gravity', perhaps one day we will have a name for what happened to me then. Maybe the world is full of such mysterious alignments, but the noise of modern life acts like a fog, so we never get to see them.
I have reflected upon the many incidences and coincidences that fell out of that unlikely meeting for many years, and now that I am as old as he was then, I believe it is time for me to commit to paper a promise I made to myself in the wake of our departure.
I fear Sayağntayama may not approve. 'Words, language, concepts… These things are abstractions! You will not find the real using tools of the unreal,' he might say. But how else can I convey to you the wisdom of his teachings? The same teachings that have since gifted me many more days smiling than not.
For my part then, I will relate my memory of that time in as colourful detail as I am able to render, so that you may see as much of what I saw as is possible for me to say. And, for Sayağntayama's part, I will hold as true as memory will allow, and relay to you as faithfully as I can his teachings, in the hope that they may serve you, as they have served me.
Sayağntayama, old friend, the gift of our time together changed my life beyond measure. No doubt you would laugh if I said that the impact you had on me is beyond words. Your unwavering kindness and patience showed me how to live well, and by example. You instilled in me the great power and virtue to be found in the ways of our ancestors, and how to adapt them to modern life.
In writing this, my aim is simply to pass this knowledge along. If you are watching over me, as I feel you have so many times along the pathway of this life, please forgive the shortcomings these hands lay bare, and guide me in your wisdom.
This novel exists in the same tension the philosophy describes — the attempt to transmit something real through the tools of the unreal. An act of necessary contradiction.
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