"The stranger functions as an unexpected messenger who can embody or mirror what is extraordinary within us, what is possible but yet unlived."
--Mark Nepo
"We ought to concentrate on how the encounter [with the stranger] ... can be as much a catalyst for creativity as it is a potential trigger for anxiety."
--Elaine A. Jahner
"When people await a cat, the stranger manifests himself as a lion."
--Nouk Bassomb
Stranger, from the Old French, Estrange, meaning "extraordinary."
These journals (or blogs) admit strangers into sometimes intimate territory. So I've been thinking about the stranger, who happens to be an archetypal character in literature. The stranger has potential to destroy, but also the potential to build and transform. Who will we let into our lives, and what difference will the stranger make?
William Stafford once wrote in the poem, "Ask Me" --
Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.
Helen Dooling Draper also addresses this notion of the archetypal stranger in her essay, "In the Doorway." She writes of the stranger poised in the doorway of our life, each of us with the choice of whether or not to let the stranger in:
"In this moment between heartbeats, the door is neither fully open nor closed; the choice between fearful rejection or whole-hearted welcome has yet to be made."
Draper also asks: "When we encounter a stranger, we wonder: Is this a friend or foe? Is it safe to believe the words of someone unknown? Shall we throw the gates open and welcome--or slam them shut in dismissal?"
She says, "Perhaps the true role of the stranger is to call us to a meeting at the border--the place between ourselves and ... the place where we might discover a kind of knowing that relates not only to place but also to time."
Together, Draper says, "we listen to others who guide our steps--scholars, seers, poets, teachers--and we gain insights through myth, story, and traditional wisdom."
It seems to me that is what the Internet has opened up for us all.
8 comments:
I think the Internet has taken the place of the old Greek agora, or the village green. People sit at home and meet each other on-line instead. Used wisely, it is a wondrous tool.
i know the internet has opened up a world for me. In particular my blog has. Thru it I have met some new friends. I am an introvert and this gives me a way to be social. I do not deal well with strangers face to face.
Rollo May... " To grow is to be anxious "
V
Perhaps with the stranger we identify what is known/unknown within us? The curiosity of two people meeting as our thoughts positive and negative. Will we like/dislike? Boundaries need be defined. Nice entry and a pleasure to meet you :)
Ayn and all
http://journals.aol.com/aynetal3/AynsMPDWorld/
This is such an intriguing entry. I suppose that with strangers we get a chance to redefine ourselves? I know that when I run into people from long ago, I feel like a don't have a chance; they already "know" who I am. But with new encounters, I can be who I am now.
The internet has opened up many vistas for me. I'm rather anti social in regular life, but online, I am not so anxious. I like your journal and will be back to read more :)
I've always loved the quote about caring for strangers and entertaining angels unawares...." poorly paraphrased...
I beautifully moved at the way of that you speak. It is joyful to hear such glisoning words run through my mind. You are a terrific and creative writer. You know how to expand people's minds into one subject. You are an artisit of being.
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