Friday 16 April 2010

No Journey Into Apocalypse

I think I got this title from Ian Fleming, "Journey into Apocalypse" was the title of one of the chapters of one of his Bond novels, but I can't remember which book exactly. Anyway, today I was supposed to leave Montreal for England. Well, something happened that changed our plans. A volcano got temperamental. So as I said earlier in a French post, we are stranded here because of a volcanic eruption. In Iceland, of all places. One would assume that volcanoes erupt only in the tropics, today's events reminded us that

My wife and I spent the day in a daze, being not quite here but not quite there, and also of course because of the spectacular way nature asserted its power over us. People call such an event an "act of God". As a Godless man of the existentialist kind, I consider such event as absurd, showing a blind but overwhelming force that shatters human plans with violence, yet without rhyme or reason. Still, they are utterly terrifying.

So we will miss England for a few more days. We will also miss the colours of sunset, which the volcano was supposed to make particularly bright. Like Hellfire? The comparison comes automatically to my mind. But I will not see it. I often miss displays of Apocalypse. By that I mean that I witness them from afar, but I am never part of it. I missed 9/11 by then days or so and when I travelled to England later, it was in a plane empty and silent like a graveyard. my wife and I were in Montreal when 7/7 happened. This time will be the same, although we are experiencing the strength of the volcano, even as far as here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Godless? No.....non-believer, but Godless, no way!

Guillaume said...

Well, they are pretty much synonymous. Volcanoes have been associated with gods in animist religions, and maybe even Abrahamic ones. My comment on Hellfire and Apocalypse were a reflect of this, but not very clear one.