Parabola's Summer 1989 issue:
Tradition & Transmission Since
Parabola is the "magazine of myth and tradition," our present theme should offer us a familiar field. Why then have we found it so difficult, so nearly impossible, to face such aspects as a clear definition of tradition itself, the faults and failures, so sadly evident in our time, of transmission, and the question of our own responsibility? More than ever, this theme has left us with questions, old ones unanswered as well as new ones. What do we mean by tradition? Is it possible, we have asked ourselves, to find one definition that covers this word? Certainly not, if we allow the plural to take the place of the singular: traditions, as customs, conventions, rituals, habits of food and dress, which are by-products of tradition in the singular, and are not our primary interest. Or
The Traditions, which have come to mean the great religions; and these have come to mean their churches--and even, alas, their churches' dogmas and disagreements. Our only hope of clarity is to maintain the singular:
tradition; and what is that? --from the editorial Focus
Cover: "The
Meddah, or Eastern Storyteller" Turkish, source unknown
In this issue:
- "The Transparent Veil of Symbolism" by P. D. Ouspensky
- Finding a common language for transmission
- "Intermediaries for the Sacred Force" by Amadou Hampv¢tv© Bv¢
- Manifestations of the divine in everyday African life
- "Poetry, Myth, and the Great Memory" by William Anderson
- Rediscovering the experience of inspiration
- "The Gift of Life" by Cynthia Bourgeault
- The unified vision of the desert fathers
- "The Fall and Rise of Man" by Ora Rotem-Nelken and Ofra Raz
- Multiplicity and unity in the genesis of man
- "Architecture of Silence": Photos by David Heald
- Cistercian abbeys from twelfth-century France
- ARCS: "Vertical Bridges"
- "The Way of Angels" by Rembert Herbert
- The impact of translation on transmission
- "The Storytelling Seasons" by Joseph Bruchac
- Reflections on Native American storytelling
Interviews
- "Chanted Blessings in Disguise" - Tibetan Abbot Konchock Wangdu
- "A Canoe Against the Mainstream" - Navajo Leader Peterson Zah
- "After the Bright Light of Revelation" - Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
Tangents - Reviews
- "Necessary Interruptions: The Way Things Work" by Rob Baker
- "Inanna in a New Medium" by Paul Jordan-Smith
Epicycles - Traditional stories from around the world
- "Mamadi the Messenger" / African (Soninke)
- "The Treasure Bag of the Fianna" / Irish
- "The Power of Niltsi, the Wind" / Navajo
- "Message from the Underworld" / Mayan