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| Robert Lax |
Lax’s journal entries from Patmos in 1969 tell of the deep
feelings of peace that he felt there:
and I felt all today as i did yesterday thatpeace, deep feeling of peace is here, that here iswhere i should stay at least for a while (& healthe nerve-ends), that here things would grow,things would speak (kal, summoned to mind,seems a wild, wild merry-go-round fromhere.) that here the days would go as thoughnothing were happening, but something wouldbe happening, that i would do nothing allday long, but toward evening of every dayI’d write (& slowly become) more articulatealmost every time i’ve been here the days havegone that way: i’ve felt as though nothingwere happening: yet at the end of the yeari’ve found that the work i did at patmos was(often) the work that stood.
- Robert Lax
First time I've read this, I think. I'd guess Lax had to solve problems each day, be concerned about money, but here he resides in peace and able to grow, not about getting and spending and success with goals. He is opening like a flower and showing a way.
ReplyDeleteThe more I get to know Lax, the more I like knowing him. He really does show a way.
DeleteAccording to Paul Spaeth at the Lax archives (St. Bonaventure), Lax depended upon his family for money to get by. Merton sent him the dividends from his inherited stock. He lived simply, but still he had to pay the rent and he didn't make it a priority to write for publication. In fact, his writing would be very different if it were written for publication.
I bet the royalties from his work continue to "pay back" his family members for basically supporting him his whole life.