Our own (member) Eddie Zapata has just published an engaging novel that addresses the challenge put forward by Joseph Campbell in his The Hero With a Thousand Faces i.e. “If we could dredge up something forgotten not only by ourselves but by our whole generation or our entire civilization, we should become indeed the boonbringer, the culture hero of the day – a personage of not only local but world historical moment.”

Eddie’s recently-published The West is The Light is our focus piece as we “dredge up” what we, our entire civilization, may have forgotten. That exercise demands an historical perspective, almost by definition necessitating an outsider’s frame of reference. The strength of the novel is the choice of its messenger – the protagonist is a bright, young American boy (Clark) transported across the European centuries by way of a history book with magical properties.

Do not, however, confuse child-like with childish for this work provides a timeless objectivity that reconnects the reader with the certain lost truths of luminaries, both legendary and historical e.g. Socrates, Dante, Stoics, Greek gods innumerable. Fear not, though, you will not be weighed down by the ambition of this book as the manner and delivery of the underlying narrative is one of a kinder, gentler Scottish mentor introducing his young charge to what may have been lost in some hyper-kinetic culture unable to catch its breath.

All in all, this is a delightful book but, yes, it does break with the normal MM protocol of a single article focus. Please note the book is a very approachable, quick read (this slow reader was able to manage it in a day) with the hard copy available at the front desk (Nanette) or available here (https://a.co/d/3RbS7h9). Below find a shortcut for those otherwise put off from participating in our session, a bare-bones overview delivered in the form of a one-paragraph aside to the reader:

“All mighty civilizations undergo an ebb and flow of vitality, and often for the same reason: to wit, they neglect the primal impulses that exalted them and thus slacken into dangerous laxity. This laxity results from too much luxury and excess.” Such is the echo heard in young Clark’s journey.

That message also happened to be the essence of our MM 12/4/17 The Fate Of Empires session containing its own remarkable focus essay that explores the common features of ten late-stage empires within a range of civilizations – e.g. the Arab; Persian flowering – featuring the later the rise of intellectualism and the wealth-sapping loss of ancient virtues like courage, energy, and patriotism that were necessary to defend the increasingly porous borders.

Yes, might come the rebuke, this whole thing comes down to another thinly-disguised throwback to white privilege. Such a response would invite a discussion about whether (and, if so, why) certain basic principles of civilizations are necessarily race assigned.

Of special note Eddie will be joining us as our lead participant as we continue the search (per Campbell) for the “culture hero of the day,” some Clark-esque icon: “He is a spark in a dark place, a gleaming beacon for a lost throng groping in the shadowy territory. . . . If he remains true to his noble nature, if he heeds the call, there is hope. He will return to his people a hero bearing a boon won after a fabulous journey.”

Clark sounds destined to be this hero who heeds the call in the meaning of MM 3/20/17 The Fourth Turning as a member of that generational archetype marking the inevitable change in the social mood. After all, generations, even neighboring generations, may have markedly different attitudes, behaviors, and self-identity. History creates generations, just as generations create history.