Published April 8, 2026
Finding is the first act. We are met at some point, perhaps in childhood, by Wordsworth’s “Celestial Light” - a premonition of happiness. As we grow, we lose this light, and are cast into darkness, which prompts a recovery mission once the necessary strength is attained (this is the Quest for the Golden Fleece). We can think of this mission as the exertions of youth in building a life for themselves, and securing implements that may aid in Happiness.
But all is for nought. We fail in recovering Happiness, and our motley crew, that ensemble of characters, including our family and friends, whom assisted us toward our dream, wash away. Later, we find the object of discovery did not exist, and that even ourselves, the Hero, that final bastion, did not really exist either, in some crucial way. What is meant by “sham” is not clear. Does it mean something totally unreal, or partially unreal? Is it a Buddhistic statement on the unreality of the self (unlikely) or a comment on psychological fraudulence?