The Star Thrower

In yesterday's post about Craig Childs' book I mentioned Loren Eiseley. Eiseley:

(September 3, 1907–July 9, 1977) was a highly respected anthropologist, science writer, ecologist and poet. He published books of essays, biography and general science in the 1950s, '60s and '70s.

Eiseley is best known for the poetic essay style, called the "concealed essay". He used this to explain complex scientific ideas, such as human evolution, to the general public.

He is also known for his writings about humanity's relationship with the natural world. These helped inspire the environmental movement. Among his books are The Immense Journey (1957), Darwin's Century (1958), The Unexpected Universe (1969), The Night Country (1971), and the memoir All the Strange Hours (1975).

Instead of simply seeing the world as a set of scientific facts and figures, Eiseley used science to look for the deeper meaning of life, even while freely admitting that science could not answer all of the mysteries of existence. This led to Eiseley's recasting of the term magician from the merely metaphysical to that of the creative Muse.
--Wikipedia

I don't remember how or why I first picked up one of his books, but once I did there was no turning back. He was mesmerizing, even when he was being a teacher. He was able to explain and still weave a web of story and fact and life. He would border at times on the depressing, a result of his own life, but he always managed to bring you back out into a new understanding of who you were and how the world the universe worked.

Perhaps his best known story around which he wrapped one of his essays is The Star Thrower which is also the title of a compilation of some of his best writings. I gather in the past 20 years that the story has been around in various forms as a motivational story. I first used it as the centerpiece of my Easter sermon in 1976. The seed of the story can be found in this excerpt as posted on Wikipedia:

In a pool of sand and silt a starfish had thrust its arms up stiffly and was holding its body away from the stifling mud.

"It's still alive," I ventured.

"Yes," he said, and with a quick yet gentle movement he picked up the star and spun it over my head and far out into the sea. It sunk in a burst of spume, and the waters roared once more.

..."There are not many who come this far," I said, groping in a sudden embarrassment for words. "Do you collect?"

"Only like this," he said softly, gesturing amidst the wreckage of the shore. "And only for the living." He stooped again, oblivious of my curiosity, and skipped another star neatly across the water. "The stars," he said, "throw well. One can help them."
—The Star Thrower, p. 172

There are very few writers of any type who can do what Eiseley does. Find one of his books in the library (look for The Star Thrower, The Unexpected Universe, or The Immense Journey. Take your time and savor them and work through his science and poetry which he is able to place on the same pages. He is remarkable.

[Warning note: If you are a creationist or intelligent design proponent you will not like Eiseley. Unless you are willing to have an open mind and an enjoyment of great writing. It may even be a way to begin to understand some of the ideas of evolution and geology that is willing to accept a world that is millions of years old.]