{"id":13497,"date":"2017-03-01T01:10:37","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T06:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=14165"},"modified":"2017-02-20T19:20:51","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T00:20:51","slug":"looking-into-the-eye-of-the-dragon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2017\/03\/01\/looking-into-the-eye-of-the-dragon\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking into the Eye of the Dragon"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --><br \/>\n\t<\/style>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-14173\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Dragoneye.jpg\" alt=\"Dragoneye\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span style=\"font-size: small;\">Look into the eye of the Dragon and despair.\u201d \u2013 Merlin initiating Morgan la Fey in the film \u201cExcalibur.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A Druid of my acquaintance put this short dialogue into my hands. He refused absolutely to comment on it, but said I might do with it what I wished. So I am laying it before all of you:<\/p>\n<p>A red-haired lady came to see me the other day. She said she had been having visions of angels, and she told me her visions in great detail. Among other things, she said that they control the weather.<\/p>\n<p>She was a nice lady. I said that I did not doubt that she had had visions of angels. Then she said, \u201cThen you accept my visions?\u201d \u201cI did not say that,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen you doubt my visions?\u201d she said. \u201cNor that either,\u201d I replied. \u201c I too have had visions, and so do other people. They do not always agree with each other. But they are all visions, sure enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen you don\u2019t think visions are real,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t really believe in them.\u201d And she stressed the word \u201creally\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are real enough,\u201d I said. \u201cAll of this that we are seeing right now is a vision. We have learned how to agree about it, so it is a common vision. But it is a vision just the same, and not necessarily the last word on what is real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what is real?\u201d she asked, stressing the word \u201cis\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA good question,\u201d I said. \u201cWhat is all this? If you look with that question in your heart long enough, you will see beyond vision, beyond these scenes of angels, or demons, or what-have-you. You will see what is here. We call that \u2018looking into the eye of the dragon.\u2019 But that is only a manner of speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happens then?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen once you look into the eye of the dragon,\u201d I said, \u201cthings are never the same, because you are never the same. We say here that to look into the eye of the dragon is to lose the human form and become the dragon. In fact, everything becomes the dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut how can everything become a dragon?\u201d she asked, a little nervously perhaps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe dragon,\u201d I corrected her. \u201cNot a dragon. The dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll right,\u201d she said, a little testily. \u201cthe dragon. But how does everything become the dragon?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything becomes the dragon,\u201d I said, \u201cby virtue of already always having been the dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t believe it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou tell me my angels aren\u2019t real, and now you want me to accept a dragon \u2013 all right, the dragon \u2013 as real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make the slightest difference whether you accept it or not,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an ugly thought, anyway, looking into the dragon\u2019s eye and becoming the dragon. I\u2019m going back to my angels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d I said, \u201cwhy shouldn\u2019t you? Stick with your angels as long as you can. There isn\u2019t much advantage in seeing things as they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She got up to go, then looked for a moment into my eyes and sat down again.<\/p>\n<p>That was when I knew she\u2019d been telling the truth about her visions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs it \u2013 is it fearsome?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is,\u201d I said, \u201cit is most terrifying. But not in the way you think.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you know what I\u2019m thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re thinking it might be dangerous, like a lion. It is not dangerous in that way at all. It can\u2019t threaten you; it can only become you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She shivered and said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to become a dragon!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf only it were really a matter of becoming a dragon!\u201d I said. \u201cBut unfortunately, calling it a dragon is only a way of flapping our gums, of having something to say. In reality, no one can say what it is. It\u2019s here, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; \u201cLook into the eye of the Dragon and despair.\u201d \u2013 Merlin initiating Morgan la Fey in the film \u201cExcalibur.\u201d A Druid of my acquaintance put this short dialogue into my hands. He refused absolutely to comment on it, but said I might do with it what I wished. So I am laying it before all of you: A red-haired lady came to see me the other day. She said she had been having visions of angels, and she told me her visions in great detail. Among other things, she said that they control the weather. She was a nice lady. I said that I did not doubt that she had had visions of angels. Then she said, \u201cThen you accept my visions?\u201d \u201cI did not say that,\u201d I said. \u201cThen you doubt my visions?\u201d she said. \u201cNor that either,\u201d I replied. \u201c I too have had visions, and so do other people. They do not always agree with each other. But they are all visions, sure enough.\u201d \u201cThen you don\u2019t think visions are real,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t really believe in them.\u201d And she stressed the word \u201creally\u201d. \u201cThey are real enough,\u201d I said. \u201cAll of this that we are seeing right now is a vision. We have learned how to agree about it, so it is a common vision. But it is a vision just the same, and not necessarily the last word on what is real.\u201d \u201cThen what is real?\u201d she asked, stressing the word \u201cis\u201d. \u201cA good question,\u201d I said. \u201cWhat is all this? If you look with that question in your heart long enough, you will see beyond vision, beyond these scenes of angels, or demons, or what-have-you. You will see what is here. We call that \u2018looking into the eye of the dragon.\u2019 But that is only a manner of speaking.\u201d \u201cWhat happens then?\u201d she asked. \u201cWhen once you look into the eye of the dragon,\u201d I said, \u201cthings are never the same, because you are never the same. We say here that to look into the eye of the dragon is to lose the human form and become the dragon. In fact, everything becomes the dragon.\u201d \u201cBut how can everything become a dragon?\u201d she asked, a little nervously perhaps. \u201cThe dragon,\u201d I corrected her. \u201cNot a dragon. The dragon.\u201d \u201cAll right,\u201d she said, a little testily. \u201cthe dragon. But how does everything become the dragon?\u201d \u201cEverything becomes the dragon,\u201d I said, \u201cby virtue of already always having been the dragon.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t believe it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou tell me my angels aren\u2019t real, and now you want me to accept a dragon \u2013 all right, the dragon \u2013 as real.\u201d \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make the slightest difference whether you accept it or not,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s an ugly thought, anyway, looking into the dragon\u2019s eye and becoming the dragon. I\u2019m going back to my angels.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d I said, \u201cwhy shouldn\u2019t you? Stick with your angels as long as you can. There isn\u2019t much advantage in seeing things as they are.\u201d She got up to go, then looked for a moment into my eyes and sat down again. That was when I knew she\u2019d been telling the truth about her visions. \u201cIs it \u2013 is it fearsome?\u201d she asked. \u201cIt is,\u201d I said, \u201cit is most terrifying. But not in the way you think.\u201d \u201cHow do you know what I\u2019m thinking?\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re thinking it might be dangerous, like a lion. It is not dangerous in that way at all. It can\u2019t threaten you; it can only become you.\u201d She shivered and said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to become a dragon!\u201d \u201cIf only it were really a matter of becoming a dragon!\u201d I said. \u201cBut unfortunately, calling it a dragon is only a way of flapping our gums, of having something to say. In reality, no one can say what it is. It\u2019s here, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}