The Going from a World We Know

Wednesday Wisdom with Emily Dickinson

The going from a world we know
To one a wonder still
Is like the child’s adversity
Whose vista is a hill,

Behind the hill is sorcery,
And everything unknown,
But will the secret compensate
For climbing it alone?

I’m reminded of the Harfoot chant in the new Lord of the Rings series: “Nobody goes off trail! Nobody walks alone!” Yet, the conclusion of the series reminds the opposite — sometimes the most important decisions go against convention.

Dickinson is wise to ask, childlike, “What is out there?”

Curiosity is the foundation of wisdom, and with curiosity risk, and with risk courage, and with courage, taking the physical (or mental) steps to go where one has never gone before.

She also asks the important question, “Are you willing to go it alone?”

Most people have not climbed the mountain. Most people have not written the novel. Most people have not started the business.

Most people are scared or busy or numb — following roads that have always been followed because they are easy.

“The wide gate has a broad road which leads to disaster and there are many people going that way. The narrow gate and the hard road lead out into life and only a few are finding it.” Matthew 7:14

In my experience, going alone is seldom truly alone.

What starts out as alone often leads to the others who have dared take the risk.

There is a kinship of misfits among those who have ventured far and discovered secrets deep and true. . .secrets known only by those who have jumped into the deep end and learned to swim.

I think Dickinson is wise to leave the question open-ended — “will the secret compensate for going it alone?” We don’t know.

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