Skip to the content of the web site.

Mr. Eric Friesen (BA 1967)

Life Lesson #8

Lesson #8 – An English Degree gives you Treasures for life! I left here in 1967 loaded with books that are still part of my library, but more importantly, with the guiding fingers of my teachers all over the books. Graham Green, in his fine spy novel, The Human Factor echoes this when he has his main character open a book. “Castle opened the book at random, or so he believed, but a book is like a sandy path which keeps the indent of footsteps.” My books from my days here are full of the footsteps of my reading and my guided reading. And it’s a treasury I keep drawing on. Most recently, as I was prepping for my last day of my daily program, “Studio Sparks,” my mind kept going back to my reading of T. S. Eliot in Dr. Martin’s class. I keep my Eliot in my office at the CBC, and so I got out my old battered copy of The Four Quartets and as part of my goodbye to my audience on that Friday afternoon, August 29th, I read these reassuring words: “And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” And then I skipped ahead to…” And all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well / When the tongues of flame are in-folded into the crowned knot of fire and the fire and the rose are one.” A benediction I first heard here and have carried with me through times of change and upheavel in my life and read again and again.

And the treasures I took from here multiplied by a factor of hundreds… like the sourdough starter that you need to make a fine new loaf of bread, the treasures I got here gave me the renewed impetus to read as much as I can every day of my life since.

I’ve loved over the years to share this with my listeners. I will often quote lines of poetry or prose as part of an introduction to music. It’s led me to collect poetry and prose related to music. And I thought I would end this afternoon by sharing with you some treasure that I’ve gathered since I left here. One of my favorite poems about music by the reclusive Scottish poet, Alastair Reid. It summarizes in a simple and direct way everything I believe about music and performance…

<< Back | Return to beginning of profile | Next >>