Observations placeholder
Elwin, Verrier – A man must make his pilgrimage over the rugged uplands of his own spirit
Identifier
024521
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
The Tribal World – Verrier Elwin
The Elusive Treasure
In T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party, Celia …. has to face the problems of both the spiritual and the physical forest, and Reilly suggests that compassion may be a clue towards finding the way out. She replies:
But even if I find my way out of the forest
I shall be left with the inconsolable memory
Of the treasure I went into the forest to find
And never found, and which was not there
And perhaps is not anywhere? But if not anywhere,
Why do I feel guilty at not having found it?
Of course, to go to the physical forest is not necessary to find the treasure that every man seeks. Heaven and hell are within ourselves. A man must make his pilgrimage over the rugged uplands of his own spirit, and the search goes on wherever one may be.