{"id":9091,"date":"2024-10-17T18:59:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T22:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/a-cosmic-fable-about-the-rhythms-and-consolations-of-friendship-the-marginalian\/"},"modified":"2024-10-17T18:59:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T22:59:43","slug":"a-cosmic-fable-about-the-rhythms-and-consolations-of-friendship-the-marginalian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/a-cosmic-fable-about-the-rhythms-and-consolations-of-friendship-the-marginalian\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cosmic Fable about the Rhythms and Consolations of Friendship \u2013 The Marginalian"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Profit<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

\n

\"Comet<\/a><\/p>\n

People pass through our lives and change us, tilting our orbit with their own. Sometimes, if the common gravitational center is strong enough, they return, they stay. Sometimes they travel on. But they change us all the same. <\/p>\n

The great consolation of the cosmic order is the constancy of its laws, indiscriminate across the immensity of space, unchanged since the beginning of time. That we can predict an eclipse centuries into the future with precision down to the second but not the outcome of an election, that we can foretell the return of a comet but not the return of a friend, is a strange oasis of sanity amid the chaotic uncertainty of life. It is also a mirror \u2014 we see ourselves reflected in universe, covet its organizing principles for the chaos of our own lives. <\/p>\n

In this respect, comets \u2014 the most erratic of cosmic denizens, with their irregular orbits, fickle periodicity, and mysterious origins in the outermost reaches of space \u2014 offer a singular lens on human relationships, that most unpredictable phenomenon in the universe. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Korean musician Lee Juck and artist Lee Jinhee take up these deep and often heavy questions with great levity and loveliness in Comet & Star<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (public library<\/em><\/a>) \u2014 the story of a little star whose cosmic loneliness is interrupted by a visit from humanity\u2019s most beloved comet: Halley\u2019s comet, which has inspired poems<\/a> and auguries. (\u201cI came in with Halley\u2019s Comet in 1835,\u201d a grown wrote in his 1909 autobiography. \u201cIt is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.\u201d And so he did \u2014 Halley\u2019s comet, which blazes across Earth\u2019s skies once every 76 years, was visible on November 30, 1835, when Samuel Clemens was born, and again on April 21, 1910, when he died as Mark Twain.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As the comet passes, the little star calls out timorously, \u201cWill you\u2026 be my friend?\u201d But the comet blazes past. <\/p>\n

Loneliness descends again, grey and dim \u2014 76 years of it (which is but a blink in the life of a star, but it is also eternity to wait even a day for a loved one who has left). <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And then, to the star\u2019s great and glad surprise, the comet returns, this time ready to connect. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the fleeting encounter, a beautiful friendship comes aglow. \u201cTo see takes time, like to have a friend takes time,\u201d Georgia O\u2019Keeffe memorably wrote<\/a> \u2014 but there is also, if you are lucky enough and openhearted enough, that rare miracle of knowing another only a short time yet seeing their naked soul, seeing yourself seen and deeply cherished in their eyes. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And so, when the comet leaves again to complete its next orbit, the star is no longer lonely \u2014 there is deep consolation in the knowledge that the cherished friend will always return, long though the stretches of absence may be; there is singular solace in the understanding that leaving need not be abandonment, that time and space avail not in any true bond, which nothing but indifference can break. (\u201cMeeting and separation are two forms of friendship that contain the same good,\u201d Simone Weil wrote to a faraway friend<\/a>. \u201cLet us love this distance which is wholly woven of friendship, for those who do not love each other are not separated.\u201d) <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The star and the comet
each glowed with joy
because they knew
they would meet again.
And they both shone
brighter than ever
in our vast universe.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Complement Comet & Star<\/em><\/strong><\/a> with the story of the comet behind Earth\u2019s most transcendent celestial spectacle<\/a> (which might one day destroy us) and these wonder-smiting medieval paintings of comets<\/a>, then revisit Big Wolf & Little Wolf<\/em><\/a> \u2014 another tender illustrated parable about loneliness and how friendship transforms us, which remains one of my favorite books of all time. <\/p>\n

Illustrations courtesy of Enchanted Lion Books; photographs by Maria Popova<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Profit<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People pass through our lives and change us, tilting our orbit with their own. Sometimes, if the common gravitational center is strong enough, they return, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purpose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}