The Great Mother

“…very small and humble, and yet encompassing the world with divinity, was the quiet figure of the great mother.” (p. 91)

“…the hall was suddenly abolished, its walls rendered invisible, and the new space was radiant with the appearance of a summoned being, the tender presence of the great mother, protectress of the island and its secret ways. The swirling energies of this being were everywhere, making the spaces alive with something akin to the electrification of the spirit, and a mighty collective hum of praise now seemed to have lifted off into the air, and the city seemed in flight. Such a splendid weightlessness pervaded everything, and all those in the great hall seemed to be afloat on a silver cloud, spiralling into the sublimity of the great mother. It wasn’t long before he felt that something about him had changed forever in that celestial mood.” (p. 142)

Ben Okri, Astonishing the Gods

Ben Okri won the Booker prize for The Famished Road. Astonishing the Gods is a fable exploring deep metaphysical ideas.