Pèlerinage à Ermenonville en 1965

The autobiography of an absolutist part 3

Written by Patrick Misson

Published: 23 August 2012 Created: 23 August 2012

Last Updated: 29 June 2015 Hits: 11443

1965 PILGRIMAGE TO ERMENONVILLE

The next event after returning to Gent was the Rousseau Pilgrimage, the first of which had been inaugurated in Geneva on September 20th, 1959, and repeated there under John's guidance in 1961. The third pilgrimage was moved in 1962 to Ermenonville (about thirty miles from Paris) where Rousseau spent his last days, and had been held there annually thereafter. In 1965 the enthusiasm and attendance were still subdued and select only. It was proposed by Dr. Joseph Vercruysse that two cars of pilgrims should start from Gent for Paris just for the night, and then depart for Ermenonville early next morning, which was September 26th.

The whole company met happily, first at the famous restaurant called Brasserie Lipp in the Boulevard St. Germain, which Balzac and Hugo are said to have frequented and opposite where Jean-Paul Sartre was then living. We all found rooms in the nearby Hotel Dragon at 150 Frs. for the night. Reassembling at the Brasserie Lipp at 9 AM next morning, the 26th, both cars went to Ermenonville, which was reached half an hour later.

Soon we met a press reporter and also the Secretary of the Association J.-J. Rousseau, whose head office is in Paris, Monsieur Maxime Nemo. He was a grey-haired man of seventy-seven or so, very enthusiastic about Rousseau. Soon we were joined by Pierre Gevaert, Garry Davis (who came all the way from Strasbourg) and the strange lady from London who also alighted into the situation unexpectedly, as if from nowhere (she likes such surprises). The Guy Marchand family also came, but a little later.

Thus we were a good enough company and the bright sun, after the previous night's rains in Paris, was happy and inviting enough to make us sit in a circle on the grass which was so green, by the lake and in view of the poplars.

After preliminary talks with Monsieur Nemo, which revealed that we had no differences of approach, I spoke, explaining how we are neither sceptics nor believers but both, according to a dialectic that is beyond paradox, and by transcending which, Rousseau became a great wisdom representative.

 Garry and M. Nemo, Dr. Joseph and Aimé Vercruysse, Walter De Buck , Jeanne and Mother Gevaert, all took turns to speak. Marc stressed the psychological aspect of Rousseau's contribution. It was one o'clock before all had their turn, and we adjourned for lunch at the restaurant kept by M.Prosper Henri Levet (1903-1972), another Rousseau admirer who had dedicated his life to studying him, with a library of four thousand books on Rousseau and allied subjects. He lived nearby, and in his restaurant w

e all enjoyed the sandwiches that had been made ready for the occasion by Madame Gevaert and Céline (who could not come as she was in charge of Pierre's children in the family house at Lathem). There was plenty and to spare, four pistolets (rolls) and tomatoes each, and cups of coffee from the hotel supplemented the lunch.

I asked Marc to write a kind of minutes about our areas of agreement, namely: the desirability of forming a Wisdom Institute in which the study of personality problems would feature and where education would be reoriented; and that the park and castle grounds should be announced as world territory. All signed, and we left at about 4 PM – Garry Davis for Strasbourg and most of the company for G, wenthich we reached between 9 and 10 PM.

Rousseau, the Swiss watchmaker's son, represented the absolutist contemplative value as near as it was possible in a Western context, after Joseph the carpenter's son and the wisdom lessons of Greece and Rome were sounded.

Patrick MISSON

http://www.advaita-vedanta.co.uk/index.php/content/2-content/biographies/260-the-autobiography-of-an-absolutist-part-3

 Patrick MISSON, a.k.a. ‘pog,’ has been a student of Vedanta for many years as a disciple of Dr. Nataraja Guru. His websites try to give a clear picture of what Nataraja taught.

https://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/07/patrick-misson-guest-columnist.html