ASTONISHING THE GODS

My husband read me this beautiful passage from a book called ‘Astonishing the Gods’ by the Nigerian writer, Ben Okri. My husband says that he has simply never read anything as mystifyingly affecting as this book. I haven’t been able to get a word of sense out of him since he picked it up.

“I don’t think I will ever understand,’ he said.

‘Understanding often leads to ignorance, especially when it comes too soon,’ replied the guide.

‘But if I don’t understand how can I carry on?’

‘It is because you don’t understand that you carry on.’

‘But I have to make sense of what I have just experienced.’

‘When you make sense of something, it tends to disappear. It is only mystery which keeps things alive,’ said the guide, patiently. 

Love, Susie x