The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)

by Mary Doria Russell

‘One of the greats,’ John agreed. ‘The Odyssey. Hamlet. Young Frankenstein. Some things never die.’

There are times, he would tell the Reshtar, when we are in the midst of life – moments of confrontation with birth or death, or moments of beauty when nature or love is fully revealed, or moments of terrible loneliness – times when a holy and awesome awareness comes upon us. It may come as deep inner stillness or as a rush of overflowing emotion. It may seem to come from beyond us, without any provocation, or from within us, evoked by music or by a sleeping child. If we open our hearts at such moments, creation reveals itself to us in all its unity and fullness. And when we return from such a moment of awareness, our hearts long to find some way to capture it in words forever, so that we can remain faithful to its higher truth.