“We begin with the imagination; it holds its light over the play of childhood;
it is the master of the revels, the enchantments, and the dreams of youth;
it must be also the inspiration of all toil and the shaping genius of all work.”
- Hamilton Wright Mabie, from Essays on Work and Culture
“Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”
- Goethe
Our being originates in mysterious unity, but through our separation from this unity, we are given the chance to understand as much or as little as we choose, before we again become one with its mystery.
Along the path of our lives, for as long as we can remember, we have sensed this mysterious presence, feeling with our hearts the inexplicable, magical core of things, and their underlying connection, which shapes the pattern of our days, always the reason behind each new being and the direction of its healthy growth. The essence of the mystery is always beyond the graspable, yet is also unshakably and undeniably present, the awareness of a greater truth behind the fragments of truth that constitute our ordinary world.
When sometimes we come close to this mysterious unity, as in the moment of a look so deep it annihilates the distance between oneself and the setting sun, so that the sun becomes the eye through which one sees, the world gains an intensity which only certain dreams hold, while the sensation is quite the opposite of sleep; it is an awakening into the world of new colour and light, a full awareness of the potential that is always here.
As time goes by, through repetition, we again grow tired, stop looking and instead refer to a map of the world long fixed by our minds, an old snapshot whose colour faded long ago.
Sometimes the song of a bird perched on the morning branch of a peach tree, as the sun weaves its golden rays through the summer foliage, strikes at the core of our hearts, and reminds us of the language of truth and beauty with which nature, and all that was born with purpose, sings its sermon.
Sometimes a story told by an inspired writer does the same. It makes us stop, and turn in the direction of light, reminding us that we have begun to deviate from the original path of our deeper calling…
We want to find such inspiring work, whether new and unknown or overlooked and forgotten, with the aim of making it visible, available to those who want to wake into a curiosity as powerful as a child’s, and whose sense of mystery is always ready to be recharged with fresh visions, focusing the direction of the search…
We believe:
- in the necessity of reminding ourselves with every step and on every day of the original aim with which we set out on our course.
- in the mystery and purpose of everything that was not born by chance. In that inevitability we look for a sense of purpose - meaning and its mysterious language - whatever the form of its expression.
- in the power of ideas as the first steps towards transforming one’s view of the world.
“We can think of an idea, in this sense, as something that puts us in contact with another degree of understanding and takes us out of inner routine and the habitual state of indolence of our consciousness – our usual ‘reality’. We cannot understand differently without ideas.”
- Maurice Nicoll, from Living Time
- in the power of imagination, for it offers an alternative view to what is actually visibly present. It shows the room to come, the new vista, before the door to be opened is even visible.
At last, we believe that it is within everyone’s power to act and effect the direction of one’s path, so that it leads towards understanding. Transforming ideas, expressed in writing, film, music or any other art form, are powerful ways of acting and being affected.
Our aim is not the arrival at the heart of the mystery itself, for that would be death. Our aim, in life and work (life’s work, for we do not believe in their division), is the process of learning and re-learning at every step; discovering, and sharing our discoveries with others.
We know we are not alone. We walk together, with you and numerous others. We are not joined by anything but our faith in the presence of a deeper meaning, by our curiosity always to learn, grow and utilise all our forces, in order to come closer to the wholeness of the picture only imagination has the power to hold. We are not bound by adherence to a single outward form of expression, for we believe any creative form has the potential to communicate this meaning and thus to ensure its own inevitability.
And so, if we choose to focus on a particular mode of expression, such as the book, we are doing so in order to give it our full attention.
We are against the fashion of our times, which makes and judges everything by its outward form and for profit, without asking for meaning, and which worships fragmentation, instead of wholeness.
We do not believe in easy entertainment.
We are prepared to work hard, and ask the same of you.
We believe that anything of true value must be earned.
We believe that opening a book is like opening a door. What or whom you encounter on the other side may forever transform your view of the world, bringing you closer to the original mystery, and its purpose, which lies at life’s core.
Wake, butterfly -
it's late, we've miles
to go together.
- Basho
Tereza Stehlíková, London, 18th July 2007
Gareth Evans