On Seeking the Source

When he was in his 50s, the Quaker poet John Hemming suddenly began receiving poems in the middle of the night. They rhymed, scanned and were perfectly formed, their apparently artless simplicity disguising some true wisdom. Many of his poems were published in The Friend.

The fourteen stories for children (and secretly adults) in Seeking the Source have, similarly, come seemingly out of nowhere to me in my early 60s. I suppose it must be the same for all writers of fiction, but I have loved the way in which the stories have so often almost written themselves. I have found myself an on-looker as the stories have unfolded. Often they have gone off in an unexpected direction; new characters have suddenly emerged; and the ending will be quite different from what I had been imagining.

It feels as though the stories come from a deep and shared level, and I can only hope that this is how readers will respond to them too. That, I suppose, is what myths and legends are meant to be about: the great mysteries of life that we all feel.

Why are the stories all set in India? The only time I was in India was over fifty years ago, as a boy, for just a few days. I did however live in Malaysia for two years, where there is a big Indian community, and have long been interested in Hinduism, especially the writings a hundred years ago of the great teacher Vivekenanda. With spirituality so much on the surface, India provides such a rich backdrop for mythical tales. I can only hope that I have not treated local customs and practices too clumsily!

But there is also a strong if disguised Quaker element. A number of the stories pick up the testimonies, especially the themes of non-violence, simplicity and equality. Royalty mix with the street vendors at the Palace gates; many of the characters are humble souls, firmly rooted in everyday life but with a deep sense of the spiritual. It has, to me, been fascinating to see how the living out of our faith can be transposed so readily to a totally different culture; indeed, it is almost a test of their authenticity. Another common thread running through the stories is truth, in the sense of the quest for meaning, and being guided by the truth. Some of the stories also reflect the remarkable experiences and personalities of prisoners with whom I have come into contact over the years, both in the US and here.

The actual writing of the stories has also been a strange experience. Generally speaking, the harder I try the more stilted the result. The stories work best, I feel, when they steal up on me unawares. Many times I would sit down in the evening with no more than a fragmentary idea and find myself still in my chair at one in the morning, the story done. Hardly anything (I felt) needed to be changed afterwards. Now they are being sent out into the big wide world: I await with some trepidation to see how these dear but unexpected visitors will fare.

Jan Arriens is a member of the QPSW Testimonies Committee.

Bron: The Friend