THE FOUR FRIENDS - POSTLUDE

The Postlude is now finally posted, bringing this tale; this dialogue of remembrance,  recollection and resourcement to a denouement; not a final end, but one of those moments when a transition or some kind of shift is sensed in one's being-in-becoming; in one's self and in relation to significant others.

This last scene -- at the Wickersfeld Railroad, on the first day of its first full weekend of renewed operation -- is like the four friends themselves; who came back together after thirty years and have grown and become strong with one another; in love's reign--holding love's reins.  

A quote that came to mind as I re-read the Postlude tonight just before posting are these words from the American Jewish Philosopher-Theologian Abraham Joshua Herschel (1907-1972) who said:

“The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe, but a will to wonder.”

As I wrote the story of these four friends over the last few years, I was cognizant of their openness to wonder, and I hope that the happiness they experienced in the moments of wonder expressed in this dialogue; in their own selves and in communion with each other -- shines herein; in this text--out of the journey that is theirs,  and theirs alone.   Only you as the reader can tell me if I have succeeded.

Theirs is a friendship at the soul level; it is -- I would characterize it as -- "True Friendship" in Aristotle's terms; which are explored by Octavia and her interlocutors in Act IV.  Being "four souls in one; and one in four," these words from the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (c. 54- 480 BCE) came to mind tonight:

“You could not discover the limits of soul, not even if you travelled down every road. Such is the depth of its form.”

So mote it be! -- or Hurrahya! -- or Amen! _to that!  It is a journey worth taking, I believe.

Sincerely, Montague Whitsel

THE FOUR FRIENDS ACT IV -- "Returning to Deer Hill"

Act IV is now posted.  (https://montaguewhitsel-4friends.blogspot.com/2026/06/act-iv-returning-to-deer-hill.html)

Thinking about this last part of the story, I recalled these words by John Dunne in his old book The Way of all the Earth (1972), wherein he described a process in which people get to know one another--

“The technique of passing-over is based on the process of eliciting images from one’s own feelings, attaining insights into the images, and then turning insight into a guide of life.  What one does in passing over is to try to enter sympathetically into the feelings of another person, become receptive to the images which give expression to his feelings, attain insight into these images, and then come back enriched by this insight to an understanding of one’s own life which can guide one into the future.” (53)

This describes the art of listening, in which the four friends are engaged, and much more.  Attentiveness to the 'other' with whom you are engaged, the practice of empathy and sympathy, being aware of another; one anothering, and coming, in the end, through knowing another to a better knowing of your own self.

This is what I hope to have portrayed as going on throughout this dialogue.

Let me know what you think.

Sincerely,

THE FOUR FRIENDS, ACT III -- Breakfast at Robert's

Act III is now posted.  When I think of this Act and what happens, I am reminded of something Sallie Mc Fague said in her wonderful exploration of language and parable:

"We learn who we are through the stories we embrace as our own. ... The story of my life is structured by the larger stories (social, political, mythic) in which I understand my personal story to take place."

-- Sallie McFague Speaking in Parables (1975)

When I think of the story of a place they should not have gone, to which they regretted going, and the discussion that follows it, I am reminded of another quote from the same book:

Another possible epigraph to Act III: 

"There is no way, now or ever, to have strange truth directly."

THE FOUR FRIENDS, ACT II - AT Robert Werner's House

 ACT II is now posted (https://montaguewhitsel-4friends.blogspot.com/2026/06/act-ii-at-robert-werners-house.html)

As the four Friends journey further -- and deeper -- into remembrance, engaging in recollection and moving toward resourcement, I am reminded of these words by Carl G. Jung, who said--

“To live fully, we have to reach down and bring back to life the deepest levels of the psyche from which our present consciousness has evolved.” (45)

- Carl G. Jung The Structure and Dynamic of the Psyche

This is facilitated by the growth we experience in friendship with others; listening to and with them, to each other, to ourselves in listening and being listened to--in the best of those 'longest hours' that can never really be forgotten.

THE PRELUDE & ACT I -- Rendezvous at the Railroad

The Prelude (https://montaguewhitsel-4friends.blogspot.com/2026/06/prelude.html)  and Act I  (https://montaguewhitsel-4friends.blogspot.com/2026/06/act-i-rendezvous-at-railroad.html) are now posted.

The railroad is a grounding image and metaphor in the dialogue, setting the stage for the journey that is initiated there, as well as being an end-point at which the characters can begin to glean what they have recollected from the dialogue.  When thinking about this, a saying -- a rune -- from an old Celtic monastic rule came to mind:

“Different is the condition of everyone, and different the nature of each place.”

- The Rule of Saint Columbanus

Those who come together to commune, learn, discover and, in becoming friends, plumb the depths of our tenuous existence, must understand this rune, which is a guidepost to self-realization and our 'finding of ourselves' in being gathered-together with those who become our anamcara ("soul friends").

 I am also reminded of this rune from the Anglican hermit Maggie Ross:

“Each moment we are beginning anew on the foundation of what has gone before.” (212)

 

- Maggie Ross The Fountain and the Furnace (1987)

 

While this applies to every moment of our lives, to enter into active remembrance, recollection and then experience some resourcement in dialogue with others is to find oneself at potentially 'new' and 'deeper' foundations of our being-in-becoming.  The dialogue which begins in this first Act opens, in a sense of wonder in remembrance, very quickly, moving below the surfaces of everyday consciousness, tapping into the 'otherworld' of memory and even dream.

 

The Four Friends: A Dialogue in 4 Acts (1June 2026)

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

-        Aristotle [“Or perhaps four?” – Vincent Lyman]

I would like to invite you to read and experience this story, which is a conversation; a dialogue – about friendship.  I offer it here (blogspot: https://montaguewhitsel-4friends.blogspot.com/) in the hopes of sharing it with a wide range of readers. 

These four friends have been ‘with me’ since the early 1980’s when I wrote a story about a hike they took down to an old, well-known but abandoned house_ the remains of the first Whittier House.  They have been central to the development of the fictional world in which I have come to set almost everything I have written since then; from stories and poems to poetic and philosophical dialogues.  The current story -- which begins and ends at the Wickersfeld Railroad -- began to take shape in 2018 and has come to fruition in its present form in the last couple years or so.  It now feels 'matured' enough, to me, to want readers.  So I am setting it free_

The Four Friends explores the workings of this particular friendship; the ways in which these four individuals came together in the 1940’s and the forces that then tore them apart; 'keeping them' separated—and then how they came back together again.  The stories they tell are all 'conjured' through a vivid process of remembrance, recollection and resourcement over the course of one night and the next morning.  The 'conjuring' is instigated by Octavia Winslow; a friend and colleague of Geoffrey Whittier; his family’s historian and chronicler--a central character in my imagined world of 'Deer Hill.'

These stories have themes ranging from vivid recollections of their early experiences together to stories of mysterious encounters, most revolving around the Whittiers; in whose world the four friends came together.  The stories they tell deal not only with the joy and the love between friends, but also loss, personal tragedy and the struggle to make one’s way in the world. 

Each of the friends has their own stories to tell; and are glad to share them.  The conversation that unfolds here through four 'Acts;' going deeper and deeper into memory’s troth—starts in one location, then moves to two others before the process of remembrance, recollection and resourcement comes to an organic and satisfying resolve for the friends.

If you choose to read The Four Friends, please feel free to leave comments or ask questions.  First and foremost, though, I hope you enjoy it.  The main theme I have come to embody in this dialogue is how friendship contributes to our living of these brief mortal lives in which we find ourselves.

Blesséd be!

I hold out hope that we all may be able to be, as Lori Ann Grayson says, “fortunate,” in the sense of “having had good friends.”

Sincerely, Montague Whitsel

Blogspot: https://montaguewhitsel-4friends.blogspot.com/