Juenger's Latest, Cromwell and Earthworms

[Bertil Haggman <bertil.haggman@helsingborg.se>]

At last I have Juenger's latest,
an as usual rewarding reading
experience.

One note from 9th July 1991 caught
my eye:

"Wir leben in einem Interregnum, in
einer Hoehle namens Zeit mit einem 
Schimmer von Licht. Vorher war es
besser, nachher wirds besser sein -
zu mindestens schmerzlos, dass
lässt sich sicher voraussagen.

Wozu also der Umweg - das ist die
Lebensfrage fuer den Dichter, den
Philosophen, den Theologen, den
Regenwurm in seinem Staub." (p.33).

I don't know why the mentioning of
the earthworm in it's dust made me 
think of Lord Protector Oliver 
Cromwell's death bed words. 
It might be that Juenger has 
quoted the Protector in his works.
Here is a part of Cromwell's
last words:

"Lord, though I am a miserable
and wretched creature, I am
in covenant with Thee through
grace....Pardon such a desire
to trample upon the dust of a
poor worm, for they are Thy
people too. And pardon the folly
of this short prayer..."

(p. 182 - 183, Samuel Rawson
Gardiner, a descendant of the
Protector, in his book _The 
First Two Stuarts and the
Puritan Revolution 1603 - 1660,
London: Longmans, Green and Co.,
1913.)

Greetings

Bertil Haggman