Earth Day, Birthday, Urs
In these last weeks in April, with Earth Day, Shamcher’s birthday (April 26, 1896) and his passing (April 29, 1980), we can take a moment to reflect on his wide-ranging presence in the world as a yogi and sufi, and as an engineer and economist. All his interests and actions were related to the aspects of the world today that are so impactful in our daily lives. Energy, economics, employment, war and peace, scarcity and plenty were all within his concern, whether in activity, writing, speaking or meditation. The Shamcher Bulletin shares some of the archives of his work. Here’s the post from last year at this time:
This winter I’ve been working on preparing Shamcher’s book, A State of Almost Happiness, for republication. He’d published it over half a century ago, with this cover by his daughter, Daphne.
Finally near completion, I’ll have publication info coming soon. Also added to this edition is Mansur Johnson’s screenplay adaptation of the book! Now the book itself, like most of Shamcher’s writing, is many-layered, visually active and uncategorizable. Follow along as the wise Taoist-magician Yung Lee transports our protagonist into the heart of China, where he tours villages and factories as a singer, bursting into the great Padmasambhava’s Hymn as the mainstay of his repertoire. It is a vision of China as it had been in the time of Mao, and our singer-protagonist visits underground enclaves, Tibetan monks, and even the Great One, Mao himself.
It is a joy to work on this material. I first digitized the book by dictating it aloud in speech to text. But I changed my workflow: iphone photo of each page opened in google docs gave me a text version to work from. When I went back to proof/copy edit the first part, I had an immediate joke/connection with Shamcher. Any of you who may have received letters from him will know what I’m talking about here, how his typos could be hilariously apt and sometimes meaningful, in a Joycean way. I’d read aloud: “Are they not one, the knower and the known?” But LOL the text in my document playfully said, “Are they not one, the knower and the gnome?” This little joke was definitely from Shamcher - who often referred to himself as “Norwegian Troll.”
Then another echo: the Norwegian Embassy in Nepal, with windows designed to reflect the Himalayas. In his book, Shamcher surveys China from both sides of the border.
From A State of Almost Happiness:
Yung Lee’s ecstatic face told me that I had always possessed the solution…To explain, one must presume to know. But does one know a thing only because he is able to clothe it in familiar-sounding terms? And how can one even begin to explain a totally new experience, which cannot be touched by any recognizable word or thought? But does one really have to? This drive we have to dissect, to describe, to analyze - does it not stem from our pitiful ignorance of the nature and scope of our minds? And is it not wiser, then, to accept the answers we find in our hearts? This, I suddenly realized, was Yung Lee's message to me.
Past Remembrance week posts can be found here:
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The Shamcher Bulletin is edited by Carol Sill, whose newsletter, “Personal Papers”, is HERE.
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When the knower and the gnome are one, we've reached Gnomevana!
Wonderful, Carol. I of course adore the Norwegian Gnome (who dares face the UnGnome)!