'The Long Sunset’ by Jack McDevitt
8冊のAcademy Series の最後です.
これで終わりと言えば終わりですが、話は、まだまだ、続いてもおかしくないです。但し、作者は87歳で、もう続けないかも知れませんね。
このシリーズの主人公は、宇宙船の女性パイロットですが、その魅力に引きずられて、とうとう8冊全部読んでしまいました。
以下のKindle版で読みました。
作者のWIKI。シリーズの説明もあります。
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Essay
Art is a service to other people
As a writer and artist, I am always interested in books about creativity. A book called The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin caught my attention because his point of view is unusual. He says that as a creative, “the path forward is about curiosity, generosity, and connection. These are the three foundations of art.” That stopped me. I could see that curiosity would certainly fuel creativity, and you would need connection to reach your audience, but what really intrigued me was “generosity.” That’s not a word I often associated with art or much else in today’s dog-eat-dog world.
It’s easy to see how art can help the artist. It’s used in therapy; it can stimulate the mind, relieve stress and boost self-esteem. Because of this, art is often considered a good activity for children and in mental health care. But Godin has a different point of view. He sees art as a necessary service to others. I decided it was time to look at art from the other end of the telescope. The idea of service to mankind made me think of social workers, missionaries and altruists. But Godin means more than that.
When I began to look at art in history and in religion, I got a glimpse of the importance of art in the world. Whether it’s fine art, music, literature or dance, the expression of human emotion and the “story” of mankind is carried in the arts. It is man’s finest documentation of the lives of people, with all the emotional and intellectual nuance needed to convey an experience to someone else – without them being there. Art has the power to cross geographic, cultural and religious lines and impact people with new ideas and profound realizations. That is indeed a service to others.
Albert Einstein once wrote about how deeply moved he felt when he saw even a small part of the mystery of the universe. This feeling was almost religious, he wrote, adding that “the most important function of art and science is to awaken this feeling.”
He and Godin are in agreement. It is the job of all creatives to share their work and in doing so make a generous contribution to the world. Godin even takes it a step further, saying that if you have the creative urge, it is selfish to deny it, to allow self-criticism or outside critics to take you off the path of your intentions. He insists: “The magic of the creative process is that there is no magic. Start where you are. Don’t stop.” We need artists and scientists more than ever now. Touching another’s life is the world’s best gift. (Beverly A. Jackson)
20221209-06x.mp3 - Google ドライブ
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Numbers 009
Chapter 9
Numbers 009x.mp3 - Google ドライブ
***** The Passover *****
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
2 Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season.
3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.
4 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.
5 And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
6 And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:
7 And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?
8 And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.
9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.
11 The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.
(ordinance = law, decree, enactment)
13 But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
14 And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
***** The Cloud Above the Tabernacle *****
15 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning.
16 So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
(So it was alway = That is how it continued to be;)
17 And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.
18 At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.
19 And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not.
20 And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the LORD they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed.
21 And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.
22 Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.
23 At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
