We see them emerging in the bright light of the clearing, blinking,
admitting that they had often been lost in the mysteries of exis-
tence, tangled up with the questions that plague us all, wandering
without definition. Then they discover the clearing, and, having
done so, they point our way to it. We then learn more of who
we are and where we are. Then we can set our own direction.
Second, the exemplum, the clearing in the woods of life, makes
possible a brighter vision. Great religious pioneers in every case
experience illumination and then they reflect their light into
the hearts and minds of others. In Buddhism, a key word is
enlightenment. In the Bible, “the people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.” They see it because their prophets or
savior brought them to the sun in the clearing.
Finally, when you picture a clearing in the woods, an exemplum,
you are likely to see it as a place of cultivation. Whether in the
Black Forest of Germany, on the American frontier, or in the
rain forests of Brazil, the clearing is the place where, with
light and civilization, residents can cultivate, can produce
culture. As an American moviegoer, my mind’s eye remembers
cinematic scenes of frontier days and places that pioneers
hacked out of the woods. There, they removed stones, planted,
built a cabin, made love and produced families, smoked their
meat, hung out laundered clothes, and read books. All that
can happen in clearings.
In the case of these religious figures, planting and cultivating
and harvesting are tasks in which they set an example and then
inspire or ask us to follow. Most of us would not have the faintest
idea how to find or be found by God, to nurture the Holy Spirit,
to create a philosophy of life without guidance. It is not likely
that most of us would be satisfied with our search if we only
consulted books of dogma or philosophy, though such may
come to have their place in the clearing.
Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard properly pointed out that
you cannot learn to swim by being suspended from the ceiling
on a belt and reading a “How To” book on swimming. You learn
because a parent or an instructor plunges you into water, supports
Foreword vii