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The Waterboys



Last Updated: 12/1/2009

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Status: Single
City: Dublin
Country: IE
Signup Date: 4/17/2006

Who Gives Kudos:


Sunday, May 17, 2009 
I'm reading a very obscure book, The Avatars, by A.E., the Irish mystic of the early 20th century.  It's a book long out of print, purchased a fortnight ago for €65 in Cathach Books, the Antiquarian shop just off Grafton Street in the centre of Dublin.

The Avatars is sub-titled "A Futurist Fantasy" and it's a strange tale - at least so far; I'm a third of the way through - about a poet, a youthful seeker and an older wise man, and their visions.  

As I read through I keep noting wonderful quotes full of spiritual energy.  I have the feeling these are perhaps more understandable now than they were in A.E.'s day, due to the cultural and scientific advances, and increased spiritual freedoms, of the past century.  I mark each of them in pencil for future reference.  I may want simply to remember them, or I may want to co-opt them into a song or piece of writing (source acknowledged of course), or I may want to quote them.

Or I might just want to share them with you.  

So here, for your pleasure and inspiration, are Scott's choice cuttings, culled from the pages of A.E.'s The Avatars:

"There was a spirit in the wild people who lived among the hills which was not in the people of the cities.  They belonged, however remotely, to some mystic empire.  The dullest peasant might break silence with a phrase in which the mountains seemed to speak rather than a man."

"As he brooded on the picture he felt a quickening of the imagination.  His fingers began to quiver as if what he had imagined had run from head to hand."

"To the ancients, Earth was a living being.  We who walk upon it know no more of the magnificence within it than a gnat alighting on the head of Dante might know of the furnace of passion and imagination beneath."

"The soul of Earth is our lost Eden."

"The real betrayal of Jesus was not by Judas, but by the other apostles who would not speak of the laughter of Jesus."

"I want to wear cap and bells before the Throne, to clash cymbals and dance, not abase myself before the Lord with my nose in the dust and my hinder parts pointing to the heavens like crawling saints in religious pictures."

"The majesty which held constellations and galaxies, suns, stars and moons inflexibly in their paths, could yet throw itself into infinite, minute and delicate forms of loveliness with no less joy, and he knew that the tiny grass might whisper its love to an omnipotence that was tender towards it."

"Everything, little pimpernel, is hurrying godwards, and you will get there, changing from flower to star on the way."

"Atoms are the creation of the infinite and bear signs of the majestic ancestry."

"The final gift of the infinite to its children will be itself."


I'll post more as I progress through the book.



Stevo Music Man

 
Soul Of The Earth Our Lost Eden - great name for a album or at least a song
 
Posted by Stevo Music Man on Sunday, May 17, 2009 - 7:36 PM
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wordscryer

 
Wise fellow, that AE. 'Everything is hurrying godwards...' is great.
 
Posted by wordscryer on Sunday, May 17, 2009 - 7:41 PM
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Ashley

 
I think the last quote sums it up. Beautiful stuff Mike
 
Posted by Ashley on Sunday, May 17, 2009 - 7:43 PM
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Aurore

 
THANK YOU.
 
Posted by Aurore on Sunday, May 17, 2009 - 7:50 PM
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Jane
Jane Maribel Alexander

 
Interesting reading. I love the lines, "Everything, little pimpernel, is hurrying godwards, and you will get there, changing from flower to star on the way." They felt like a feather tickling the base of my Spine !! Enjoy your reading .... it sounds as though it could be full of surprises ...............
What is AE's full name ??
 
Posted by Jane on Sunday, May 17, 2009 - 8:21 PM
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Maria
Maria Viana

 
Throw all the words into infinite, all the delicate forms of loveliness.
Thanks for this AE whispers.

 
Posted by Maria on Sunday, May 17, 2009 - 8:31 PM
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Lissa~Käthe

 
"The real betrayal of Jesus was not by Judas, but by the other apostles who would not speak of the laughter of Jesus." WOW! Mike, this really made a seed of laughter germinate on my lips...
What a great book, thankyou for sharing your enthusiasm with this, the wisdom is timeless.

Cheers
Lissa
 
Posted by Lissa~Käthe on Sunday, May 17, 2009 - 9:38 PM
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Zeptepi

 
"To the ancients, Earth was a living being. We who walk upon it know no more of the magnificence within it than a gnat alighting on the head of Dante might know of the furnace of passion and imagination beneath."

Beautifully put.
 
Posted by Zeptepi on Sunday, May 17, 2009 - 10:40 PM
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Jeffrey Barkin
Jeffrey Barkin

 
Wow! Makes you wonder how much influence this writing has already had? Thanks for sharing, and surely motivating me to hit some bookstores!
 
Posted by Jeffrey Barkin on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 3:29 AM
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Emma

 
Sounds like a book that needs to be back in print to me!
Personal favourite 'As he brooded...'
As an artist, hurrah to that!
xxEmma
 
Posted by Emma on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 3:50 AM
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The Scuttlers

 
sounds like A.E see's the whole of the moon !
 
Posted by The Scuttlers on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 7:36 AM
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Mike & Joolz
Mike Joolz

 
You were robbed mate... $17 on Amazon, in stock!!
 
Posted by Mike & Joolz on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 7:02 PM
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The Waterboys

 
So it is! Brilliant to see it's been reissued, but mine's a first edition from 1933, when AE was alive, a sweet little hardback in original dust cover, carries the original impulse and feeling, innit!  But if any of you wanna copy for yourself, thanks to Mike and Joolz, here's the link: 


http://www.amazon.com/Avatars-Futurist-George-William-Russell/dp/1597313025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242765526&sr=1-1


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Avatars-Futurist-George-William-Russell/dp/1597313025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242765841&sr=1-1


 
Posted by The Waterboys on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - 8:45 PM
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Paige
Paigey O'Neill

 

GREAT stuff.  Thank you. x


 
Posted by Paige on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 8:45 PM
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Gabrielle
Gabrielle Stollmann

 
Thank you so much, Mike for these quotes! It is the small things which make this world a great place. "Everything is hurrying godwards..." This reminds of a small staircase in the cathedral of Naumburg in East Germany. On its banister, made of bronze, there are small creatures, snails, flies, mice, other animals, all crawling upwards, maybe to God or maybe to the light. This animal procession refers to a sermon by Saint Francis, the great friend of animals. Would like to give 2 Kudos as well , but it doesn't seem to work here...
 
Posted by Gabrielle on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - 2:31 PM
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Maria Manuel
Maria Manuel Verdade Ferreira

 

They are indeed quotes to remember and thanks for sharing with us. Enjoy your reading !


 
Posted by Maria Manuel on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - 4:43 PM
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Fien

 
The book has found her home in your loving hands turning the pages.  
 
Posted by Fien on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 11:01 AM
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