Pilgrim’s lauds: No road runs from then to now?
This Saturday is our departure ceremony at sunrise: the pilgrim’s lauds. We walk in silence through the abandoned Stevens Church in Nijmegen and listen to a lecture from Seasons of Life: a contemporary book of hours and pilgrims. With this book we opened the Walk of Wisdom in 2015 (more).
At the beginning of last month, philosopher Toine Janssen read a text by Jaap van den Born: Lao Tzu.
Photo: Stevenspedel Manja, who leads the ceremony.
Lao Tzu
There are many paths in the sea
Worn into the ocean by ships
The horizon lured people away again and again
Guided by Merchants and Prophets
And worldwide, along many longitudinal widths
Left the social residue
Forgotten by everyone for centuries
After all, no path leads from then to now?
The paths, thinly drawn by the fairy
Or crudely dismembered in the skies
By bumblebee, bat, moth and scarab
By magpie, sparrow and whatever else they are called
And rows of chairs that split the clouds
Tourists, traveling to déjà vue:
Blurred the path; The ascetics evaporated
After all, no path leads from then to now?
The pilgrim’s path does not need an entrance fee here
A doping-free tour for non-athletes
Once a silent parade dedicated to God
They are not being chased by anyone now
And have a clean conscience without him
The superstition at the time was cruel and crude
No god knows what they had eaten
After all, no path leads from then to now?
O reader! One path is just a small size
Overgrown and unspoilt and just for you
Your life path; A link and not a chain
After all, no path leads from the here to the now?
Jaap van den Born
(website)
Publisher Intermedi-Art also placed small works of art with the texts from Seasons of Life : miniatures. Including this one from Peter de Haan, Qua Vadis:
More about our Book of Hours
More about our series of Books of Hours: link.
More about Jaap van den Born: link.
More about Peter de Haan: link.
More about Toine Janssen and his philosophical practice: link.
