Observations placeholder
Michaux, Henri - Space of the Shadows
Identifier
010906
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The death of Michaux's wife had a remarkable effect and one can be convinced by his writing that he was indeed in touch with her.
Space of the Shadows in particular is extraordinary in this respect.
A description of the experience
from Space of the Shadows
The face of death has flattened all strength in me. Perhaps I am blocking the currents of the Infinite. Surely I must be blocking them; that is the reason for my night. Other souls ask themselves no questions. They get in the right position at the surge and they're carried off in a split second by the great invisible avalanche that is ceaselessly flowing toward the centre, bearing away the ones who are ready............
So many shadows, so many unbearable shadows.
And all these are dead heavy, so very much heavier than I am, even though I am much too heavy, weighing despite myself towards the earth.
But do I really wish to? No, no the infinite and the forerunner of the infinite is such a relief here that there is nothing, I swear to you, nothing in the world that would make me want to return to yours. We have not forgotten it, you know, cut up in slices, in unequal surprising slices, a world of distraction, a root that is never watered...........
It is so dense here, everything, even the emptiness we move through... we are stretched out enormously, a presence between the indefinite and the infinite, from abyss to abyss. This density is already an answer. Don't ask too much of me; although I'm far from earth, I am still farther from the centre.