March 26, 1997 (Day 7 – milepoint 66.9 – Dicks Creek Gap)
Horrendous lightning and thunder storm last night. Everyone in the shelter woke up and watched for a while. A couple of close hits had us worried about Fiddlehead, who was trying out the new tent he recently made for himself.
“Back to the drawing boards,” he said as he approached the shelter this morning dripping wet. But he said it with a smile.
Damp, foggy morning, but it cleared and was sunny-beautiful by noon. Our destination today was Dick’s Creek Gap where we planned to hitch a ride into the town of Hiawasee for resupply. We sat down at a picnic table to relax a bit. Before long, a Ford pickup rolled up. The man driving introduced himself as Ragin’ Cajun and offered us a ride into town. Roaming Gnome, Ned, and I introduced ourselves and accepted his offer. Ragin’ Cajun drove us into town, waited for us to check into the Hiawassee Inn and catch a shower, then took us to the laundromat and post office. Turns out, he completed his thru-hike going 2 months at a time in ’94,’95, and ’96. Said he’s been doing some day-hiking in the area with a friend and was enjoying being a Trail Angel and giving back. Very gracious man.
All you can eat buffet dinner for $5.00 at City Limits Restaurant where I felt very out of place. Twilight Zone-like out of place. I felt like a gypsy at Sunday mass. But I also felt welcome and accepted, so it was like a very kind, safe, and friendly Twilight Zone.
-Aquaholic
March 26, 2009
I often struggle to find harmony between the two opposite sides of my self. The civilized, virtuous monk in me versus the passionate, flesh-loving bohemian. Order versus Chaos. Predictable process versus uninhibited creativity. Lightness versus Darkness.
I suppose one does not exist without the other.
One of my favorite books of all time is Narcissus and Goldmund (by Herman Hesse). The two main characters represent these two sides of the human spirit. I related to both of them and eventually came to realize that in a variety of ways this has been and will be a lifelong internal struggle.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche also presented this dichotomy in the context of a Greek tragedy – the conflict between the gods Appollo and Dionysus.
From Wikipedia: “Apollo and Dionysus are both sons of Zeus. Apollo is the god of the Sun, lightness, and poetry, while Dionysus is the god of wine, ecstasy, and intoxication. The contrast between them symbolizes principles of light versus darkness, civilization versus primal nature.”
Nietzsche connects all of this to how music and modern literature unite on stage. The stage dialogue formed the concrete symbolism (Apollo), while the music of the orchestra formed the emotion (Dionysus). Basically, by combining music and dialogue, the Apollonian spirit was able to give form to the abstract Dionysian, allowing the spectator to experience the full spectrum of the human condition.
So I told you that to show you this, put on some headphones and enjoy the dialogue and the music:
Connect
