Zia Haider Rahman: In The Light Of What We Know

Great is this power of memory, exceedingly great, O my God, a spreading limitless room within me. Who can reach its uttermost depth? Yet it is a faculty of my soul and belongs to my nature. In fact I cannot grasp all that I am. Thus the mind is not large enough to contain itself: but where can that part of it be which it does not contain? Is it outside itself and not within? How can it not contain itself? As this question struck me, I was overcome with wonder and almost stupor. Here are men going afar to marvel at the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the long courses of great rivers, the vastness of the ocean, the movement of the stars, yet leaving themselves unnoticed. —Saint Augustine, Confessions, Book X, 'Memory'

Which is about making our lives stand for something that our intelligence can grasp, saving us from confronting what we fear might be true – or what we would fear might be true – or what we would fear if we gave ourselves the chance – namely, that we’re accidental pieces of flesh, mutton without meaning.


Maps, contour maps and all maps, intrigue us for the metaphors that they are: tools to give us a sense of something whose truth is far richer but without which we would perceive nothing and never find our bearings.