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poliphilo We have piles of old magazines at the Meeting House. Quaker Studies. Quaker this and that. The Friend. The ones I glanced at were from the 90s and Noughties- getting on for a quarter of a century old. They take up space in cupboards that could be used for other things. Yes, they constitute an archive, but who will ever consult it? We're not a community of scholars. Is there anything in them of lasting value?
Who will give them a home if we don't?
And then I think of places I've seen in film documentaries- Christian monasteries in Ethiopia, Buddhist monasteries in the Himalaya- where they have so called libraries that are simply storerooms piled high with ancient texts- centuries old- that no-one reads , that are slowly mouldering away...
And then I think of the Dead Sea scrolls in their jars in their caves...
And then I think of the Library of Alexandria...
And then, lastly, I think of the Hall of Records that is supposedly located- guarded by technologies beyond our comprehension- under the paws of the Sphinx...
Who will give them a home if we don't?
And then I think of places I've seen in film documentaries- Christian monasteries in Ethiopia, Buddhist monasteries in the Himalaya- where they have so called libraries that are simply storerooms piled high with ancient texts- centuries old- that no-one reads , that are slowly mouldering away...
And then I think of the Dead Sea scrolls in their jars in their caves...
And then I think of the Library of Alexandria...
And then, lastly, I think of the Hall of Records that is supposedly located- guarded by technologies beyond our comprehension- under the paws of the Sphinx...
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Date: 2023-10-28 10:45 am (UTC)