Oxford

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for taking the time to come and read. This blog comes to you from across the Atlantic. I’ve been here, in England, wandering around the spires of Oxford for two weeks now, finding myself. It’s been a privilege to be here so far. There is nothing more satisfying than having 8 years of expectation become something more than anticipation: actuality. Having said that, those 8 years had made a utopia out of this place (utopia being Latin for ‘no where’), for the oxford outside my head is markedly different than the one I had created inside it. It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s real. And that seems to be thing; there is no assurance in anything other than truth. As Thoreau said, “rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth” for where else can we rest with certainty. I am enjoying Oxford, but not as I imagined I would: without struggle. There’s more work to do here than I had anticipated, more pensive longing for far away friends and loving family, more reading than I think possible and better minds than my own. These are the things though, which among others, make life real, and to want it another way is to not want life. And to not make the most of this is to not live. The challenege is to make the most out of what we have when we have it, not to live for what we would like whenever we want it.

This has taken a decidedly more pensive tone than I had intended and I do not want to give a false impression of what life here is like. I have had a world of fun here so far. This is a real adventure, and a fabulous one at that. I live in a place of resplendent learning and ennobling architecture. Things here have a deep voicefullness to them. Not a stone seems placed which doesn't merit my attention. Nor is there a question here that hasn’t been seriously asked and thoughtfully considered. It’s more than I could have asked for, because in many ways, it isn’t what I asked for. What I came here wanting was the satisfaction of a dream, what I get is what there is, which is reality itself. I would rather come here, and have the good and bad together as it really is and know, than to have forever in my head the dream of oxford, a utopia, which can yield nothing more than fancy and fiction. Real fun comes from real things, and i'm having real fun here. It's not all that i longed for, but it is everything that's on offer.

I will keep you posted, as there are many things I haven’t yet talked about, explained, explored or elaborated on: the pubs, colleges, travelling, reading, thinking, churches, evensong, choirs, weather, nature and so many more things that I can tell you about. I hope to attach in later blogs pictures for your viewing pleasure, for there are many wonderful things to see here.  

 Sincerely

Tom