“No culture has yet solved the dilemma each has faced
with the growth of a conscious mind: how to live a moral
and compassionate existence when one is fully aware
of the blood, the horror inherent in all life, when one
finds darkness not only in one’s own culture but
within oneself. If there is a stage at which an individual
life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps
the irony in it’s unfolding and accepts responsibility
for a life lived in the midst of such paradox.
One must live in the middle of contradiction because
if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would
collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the
great pressing questions. You continue to live them
out, making your life a worthy expression of a leaning
into the light.”
Excerpted from “Arctic Dreams”, author Barry Lopez.
Publisher Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York.
Also published simultaneously in Canada by
Collier Macmillan Canada.
Islander.