Removing himself from what an overdeveloped society has made of language, literature, and a life of the mind, the author finds in Africa Nature stripping away his veils of ignorance, and in Indonesia Spirit shining through the veil of Nature. The Javanese have a proverb: "Life is a pause on a journey towards a cup of tea." This book honors the gifts of the pause, however unexpected and alarming -- they may include the visit of a god or goddess (not always to be explained or explained away by recourse to Jungian archetypes) posing a dilemma for the (supposedly) rational intellect. Yet...