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Sea and Desert
- Syracuse University Press
- Chapter
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Sea and Desert [34.204.3.195] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 23:38 GMT) [34.204.3.195] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 23:38 GMT) 69 Desert and Sea: how alike opposites are! Sea, water Desert; Desert, sand Sea. Whoever crosses the Sea Desert dies of thirst, so does the crosser of the Desert Sea. Like the Desert, the Sea is Sea through freedom, not through water. The Desert revives through nothingness; the Sea kills through existence. The dividing-line between Sea and Desert is an isthmus separating existence from nothingness. The Sea only stays calm in order to spy on its beloved, the Desert. The Sea addresses us in clamor; the Desert in silence. Talismans drawn by the wind on the Desert’s surface are the same as those it draws on the Sea. Land hiding a prolific flood in its belly: Sea turned upside down. Sea hiding prolific sands in its belly: land turned upside down. Everyone is a prisoner of his own exile: the Sea hides Desert in its belly, while the Desert hides Water. [34.204.3.195] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 23:38 GMT) 71 Wind, Desert’s message to its beloved, the Sea; wind, Sea’s message to its beloved, the Desert. Desert hurls its sandy swords to the north in a desperate attempt to reach the shores of its beloved, the Sea. In its turn the Sea pushes wave upon wave to the south, yearning to reach the borders of its beloved, the Desert. The Sea is associated with adjoining land, yet the land is not linked to the Sea, since land is country, whereas Sea is freedom. For both land and Sea freedom is a shared arbiter of supreme importance. Desert finds freedom in moving to the Sea. Sea finds freedom moving to the Desert. That is because both have long since realized that things only find freedom through their opposites. The Sea’s waves crash on the shore in quest of freedom. The Sea then retracts its waves for fear of freedom. Every oasis is a trap; every Desert salvation; every island exile; every Sea freedom. How can the Sea not strive in its desire to meet its beloved, the Desert? How can the Desert not similarly long to meet its beloved, the Sea? Neither of them embraces any religion save freedom. 72 The Sea, movement; the Desert, tranquility. In the Sea’s movement is the Desert’s tranquility; in the Desert’s tranquility is the Sea’s movement. Whoever cannot find Desert in the Sea will never find Desert in the Desert; whoever cannot find Sea in the Desert will never find Sea in the Sea. ...