22 PA RT O N E
A deep current runs from our mythic beginnings, from a world spoken into
being—“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light”—into Adam’s
genius for naming. Made in the image of God, humankind gets an earthly ver-
sion of that divine creative power. (Apparently Adam never misspoke, otherwise
God creating the birds sees Adam in His thought
From Etienne Houvet, Cathédrale de Chartres; north portal (thirteenth century)
(Chelles, France, 1919).