Mt. Analogue by René Daumal: What Are We Doing Here?

"You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art to conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can still at least know."
---René Daumal, Mt. Analogue


I was reading Mt. Analogue. It is a tale about finding and climbing a mountain that the world cannot see and therefore cannot find. The climbers manage to find the mountain by ship, knowing in their hearts that it exists. They find the mysterious mountain and are greeted by the people there and handed currency for their trip. Of course they wonder what the exchange is for the currency and how everyone knew they were coming. They must find the diamond like jewel in the mountains, that is the only real currency there. It exists no where else. There are many rules for climbing the mountain. Some reach a certain spot and settle there. Others are driven to go on.

The mountain must be ascended and also descended. It is a very personal journey, with no one man having the same experience or way as the other. They climb as a team and think of others as they do so. In going up the climbers leave marks to find their way down, or some sign they have been there. This is for retracing their own footsteps and also for others. In coming back down, it is important to move the marks from some of the more dangerous passes so as not to mislead others into making the same errors.

Writing and communicating with others is one of the ways we can mark this trail for others and others leave a safe path for us. Sure we will fall, tumble, and we will also climb and succeed. It is all here somewhere, where ever your here may be. Perhaps our path will show for others even when we are gone and in a different place.




"You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art to conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can still at least know."
---René Daumal, Mt. Analogue