Ian Dallas,The Book of Strangers

Without knowing how it has happened, he has already begun the go beyond words and rationality, beyond technology and the physical world, to an irrational, even anti-rational realm of mystery and un usher outnyity.

This "journey," the fibber says, "had begun as I sat immobile in that empty room" (14-15). Indeed, the journey has begun and the bank clerk is drawn inexorably to the discoveries awaiting him as he pursues the vanished bearing librarian and the mysterious book and its sacred meaning.

Clearly, this is a sharp and precipitous change in this man's life. What accounts for such a drastic change in this man from a rational, technology-obsessed conformist to an various(prenominal) throwing his arid life away for a mysterious spiritual pursuit? He mustiness be seem as an unusual man to begin with, for most people in such a controlled fraternity would non seriously parcel out such a radical and sudden change.

In former(a) words, the desire for spiritual enlightenment had to have been in him out front he was drawn to the picture, its inscription, and the previous librarian's journal.

On the other hand, we can be forgiven for thinking that there was something about the nature of the society in which he lives which made him so vulnerable to such a yearning and the resultant adventure. This society is one in which all non-conformity, all spiritual thoughts and practices, were thoroughly discouraged.

It is as if the individuals in this society---espe

In any case, the storyteller is catapulted almost immediately into the world of the spirit, although he certainly does not immediately become spiritual, for he must be piecemeal "peeled," layer by layer, of his rational ways of thinking, perceiving and experiencing. He must learn that the life of the spirit is not based on rational thought, but on mystical freedom and catch.

cially fussy individuals such as the narrator---have been made more than vulnerable to such independent and spiritual thought and practice by not having been exposed to it, as an un-immunized child might be more vulnerable to a certain childhood disease.

The narrator watches some other devotee experience this joy, and finally comes to experience it himself:

Dallas, Ian. The Book of Strangers.

capital of New York" State University of New York Press, 1988.

These three events are crucial to the spiritual awakening of the narrator. The first event---the narrator's transcendence of words and his movement into a realm where experience is most important---is crucial because such a movement is necessary in order to get beyond the rational mind where words rule. If he had stayed in this rational, technological world, he would never have been able to fully experience spiritual enlightenment, for such enlightenment depends on a non-rational ingress in the realm of empirical truth.

Nasir is delighted with the news that the narrator has given up the hash. The narrator himself recognizes the truth of the situation. Referring to the hash, he corrects Nasir: "no(prenominal) It gave me up" (72). Nasir exclaims, "Ah! It is the God has taken it away from you. That is something else. That is very important." Nasir gives the narrator a set of ivory beads and tells him, "You will recoup what you are seeking" (72). Nasir knows that the rejection of the hash by the narrator is a sign that God is indeed working to help the narrator achieve his spiritual goal.

I watched a young imaum from the mountains, as the tears flowed
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