I woke this morning, picked up my little 'how to dismantle an atomic bomb' book and found the following piece of writing. It helped me to understand a little bit more about how to dismantle atomic bombs.
The Himalayas are as high as a human being can get without getting a nose bleed. At about 10 000 feet the mountain becomes unfriendly, the rockface only a goat would trust... The earth doesn't so much punch a hole in the sky with a fist, more a series of elbows arch over its head to protect the peace loving peoples who live in their shade. Etched into this Vertical that has forgotten it started as a Horizontal are paths... the ground on its side more a profile against a cold whisking sky... The paths are sometimes twenty or thirty mile contours that offer the only way around the mountain... if your were 1. mad enough, 2. a parachutist, 3. a goat.
Start down one of these trails and Nature will teach you a lesson about God, or maybe it's God teach a lesson about your nature... to meet another soul on one of those paths without rock climbing equipment is disaster. The goats know this. They stare at each other. They Gristle. Their baby that's just woken cry becomes a grown up growl. To pass each other is impossible. One will have to turn back to give way to the other. Struggle will mean a certain end for one of them, maybe both of them, unless...
One lies down and becomes the path for the other. It's an extraordinary thing to see a goat do what a human cannot. Compromise. As it's legs bend and kneel the comic devil creature lies down with its face pressing into the humbling dirt. The one makes way for the other. The other awkwardly mounts and walks over its potential rival and goes it's way...
It's an extraordinary thing to see a goat do what a human cannot. What is it about our human heart/mind/soul that doesn't see the obvious answer, especially when it is something a little bit humiliating?
Lord help me to see the obvious next thing to do.
extract from U2/HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB Limited Edition 48 page book featuring illustrations, paintings and photography by U2, 2004
