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Listening to the Stars |
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By sister-initiate Eva, Sofia, Bulgaria Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900 ~ 1944) was a renowned French aviator and author whose writings possess a musical, poetic quality that comes from the heart and aims at contacting the deepest, most humane aspects of existence. For example, in one of his works Saint-Exupery states, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." While working as a mail pilot, Saint-Exupery became fascinated with the stars, all the time trying to spot the tiny, glittering windows on the earth by night. The stars are "awakened souls," he wrote, that eagerly look to discover the secret of life and help humankind gain this knowledge as well. He also understood the desert, and entered a deep, serene state while flying over the barren North African wastes, where few beings dwell. While writing, Antoine de Saint-Exupery continuously penetrated his subconscious and introspected on his life. This inward-directedness gives his novels a philosophical tone, but his style is smooth and easy-going. When reading his works, one can embark on a literary journey with the author to the farthest points of the planet and at the same time to the inside of oneself. The circumstances surrounding Saint-Exupery's death are still a mystery. One day he boarded his plane, took flight and never landed. A year before, in 1943, he wrote his most prophetic and widely read book, The Little Prince. The plot involves a pilot who has a plane crash in the desert and is left without much food or water. (Actually, Saint-Exupery had the same experience in real life.) Then a Little Prince from a tiny asteroid far from Earth appears before him and the pilot starts up a conversation, forgetting all his troubles. They talk in a metaphorical way, touching on the most vital questions of human existence. At the novel's conclusion, the mysterious boy departs, the pilot manages to repair his plane and everything seems to be all right. Nonetheless one feels like crying as if experiencing a great inner loss; because during his talk with the Little Prince the pilot succeeds in going beyond his trivial worldly existence, stops being preoccupied with personal survival and opens up to a deeper understanding of life. He returns to the ordinary world "safe and sound" but longs to maintain contact with this other dimension he has discovered. At least the Little Prince promised that they would always be in touch through the sound of the stars: "Now my sorrow is comforted a little. That is to say - not entirely. But I know that he did go back to his planet, because I did not find his body at daybreak. It was not such a heavy body and at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells. " In a similar vein, Master once responded as follows to a question about whether She will show us how to listen to the stars: "Yes, this is exactly what I'm going to do." When I heard this comment by Master, I immediately thought of Saint-Exupery and realized what a revelation he must have had in the desert. Thus, meditation on the inner Sound might be poetically termed "listening to the music of the stars." The last sentences of his novel go like this: "Look at it [the surrounding landscape] carefully so that you will be sure to recognize it in case you travel some day to the African desert. And, if you should come upon this spot, please do not hurry on. Wait for a time, exactly under the star. Then, if a little man appears who laughs, who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions, you will know whohe is. If this should happen, please comfort me. Send me word that he has come back. " So, today I am thrilled to dedicate the following lines to one of my favorite authors:
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