{"id":68779,"date":"2023-06-27T09:30:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T13:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=68779"},"modified":"2023-06-26T09:53:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T13:53:46","slug":"it-is-as-easy-for-the-mind-to-think-in-stars-as-in-cobble-stones-helen-keller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=68779","title":{"rendered":"“It is as easy for the mind to think in stars as in cobble-stones.” – Helen Keller"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nHelen Keller and Charlie Chaplin<\/i><\/p>\n

Today is Helen Keller’s birthday. Her autobiography, The Story of My Life<\/a>\"\"<\/i> is essential reading. <\/p>\n

In 1932, a doctor saw a photograph of Helen Keller on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. He wrote her a letter asking what she saw. <\/p>\n

Here is her magnificent reply.<\/p>\n

January 13, 1932<\/p>\n

Dear Dr. Finley:<\/p>\n

After many days and many tribulations which are inseparable from existence here below, I sit down to the pleasure of writing to you and answering your delightful question, \u201cWhat Did You Think \u2018of the Sight\u2019 When You Were on the Top of the Empire Building?\u201d<\/p>\n

Frankly, I was so entranced \u201cseeing\u201d that I did not think about the sight. If there was a subconscious thought of it, it was in the nature of gratitude to God for having given the blind seeing minds. As I now recall the view I had from the Empire Tower, I am convinced that, until we have looked into darkness, we cannot know what a divine thing vision is.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I beheld a brighter prospect than my companions with two good eyes. Anyway, a blind friend gave me the best description I had of the Empire Building until I saw it myself.<\/p>\n

Do I hear you reply, \u201cI suppose to you it is a reasonable thesis that the universe is all a dream, and that the blind only are awake?\u201d Yes \u2013 no doubt I shall be left at the Last Day on the other bank defending the incredible prodigies of the unseen world, and, more incredible still, the strange grass and skies the blind behold are greener grass and bluer skies than ordinary eyes see. I will concede that my guides saw a thousand things that escaped me from the top of the Empire Building, but I am not envious. For imagination creates distances and horizons that reach to the end of the world. It is as easy for the mind to think in stars as in cobble-stones. Sightless Milton dreamed visions no one else could see. Radiant with an inward light, he send forth rays by which mankind beholds the realms of Paradise.<\/p>\n

But what of the Empire Building? It was a thrilling experience to be whizzed in a \u201clift\u201d a quarter of a mile heavenward, and to see New York spread out like a marvellous tapestry beneath us.<\/p>\n

There was the Hudson \u2013 more like the flash of a sword-blade than a noble river. The little island of Manhattan, set like a jewel in its nest of rainbow waters, stared up into my face, and the solar system circled about my head! Why, I thought, the sun and the stars are suburbs of New York, and I never knew it! I had a sort of wild desire to invest in a bit of real estate on one of the planets. All sense of depression and hard times vanished, I felt like being frivolous with the stars. But that was only for a moment. I am too static to feel quite natural in a Star View cottage on the Milky Way, which must be something of a merry-go-round even on quiet days.<\/p>\n

I was pleasantly surprised to find the Empire Building so poetical. From every one except my blind friend I had received an impression of sordid materialism \u2013 the piling up of one steel honeycomb upon another with no real purpose but to satisfy the American craving for the superlative in everything. A Frenchman has said, in his exalted moments the American fancies himself a demigod, nay, a god; for only gods never tire of the prodigious. The highest, the largest, the most costly is the breath of his vanity.<\/p>\n

Well, I see in the Empire Building something else \u2013 passionate skill, arduous and fearless idealism. The tallest building is a victory of imagination. Instead of crouching close to earth like a beast, the spirit of man soars to higher regions, and from this new point of vantage he looks upon the impossible with fortified courage and dreams yet more magnificent enterprises.<\/p>\n

What did I \u201csee and hear\u201d from the Empire Tower? As I stood there \u2018twixt earth and sky, I saw a romantic structure wrought by human brains and hands that is to the burning eye of the sun a rival luminary. I saw it stand erect and serene in the midst of storm and the tumult of elemental commotion. I heard the hammer of Thor ring when the shaft began to rise upward. I saw the unconquerable steel, the flash of testing flames, the sword-like rivets. I heard the steam drills in pandemonium. I saw countless skilled workers welding together that mighty symmetry. I looked upon the marvel of frail, yet indomitable hands that lifted the tower to its dominating height.<\/p>\n

Let cynics and supersensitive souls say what they will about American materialism and machine civilization. Beneath the surface are poetry, mysticism and inspiration that the Empire Building somehow symbolizes. In that giant shaft I see a groping toward beauty and spiritual vision. I am one of those who see and yet believe.<\/p>\n

I hope I have not wearied you with my \u201cscreed\u201d about sight and seeing. The length of this letter is a sign of long, long thoughts that bring me happiness. I am, with every good wish for the New Year,<\/p>\n

Sincerely yours,<\/p>\n

Helen Keller<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\nHelen Keller and Anne Sullivan<\/i><\/p>\n

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\nThank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here’s a link to my Venmo account<\/a>. And I’ve launched a Substack, Sheila Variations 2.0<\/a>, if you’d like to subscribe.<\/em> <\/small><\/p>\n