Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo.
You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheatfields and mountain passes,
and orchards in bloom.
At night there are millions of galaxies,
and in sunlight the beauty of friends
dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she,
stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer:
"There is no 'other world.'
I only know what I've experienced.
You must be hallucinating."
Mathnawi III
Version by Coleman Barks
"We Are Three"
Maypop, 1987
You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheatfields and mountain passes,
and orchards in bloom.
At night there are millions of galaxies,
and in sunlight the beauty of friends
dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she,
stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer:
"There is no 'other world.'
I only know what I've experienced.
You must be hallucinating."
Mathnawi III
Version by Coleman Barks
"We Are Three"
Maypop, 1987
