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Show 106 sacred mountain, was indeed ganz andere, something else. He was beyond the realm of the familiar, beyond the meadows, beyond the songs of the dun-headed sparrows. He had entered a "massive picture. . . . rock, ice, and water close together without a single leaf or sign of life." Further, he "dared not think of descending" since "the dangers below seemed even greater than the cliff in front." Though he knew where he was, he was truly lost and bewildered, largely as a result of his own efforts. What followed was the awakening, and it is worth reading in its entirety: After gaining a point about half-way to the top, I was suddenly brought to a dead stop, with arms outspread, clinging close to the face of the rock, unable to move hand or foot either up or down. My doom appeared fixed. I must fall. There would be a moment of bewilderment, and then a lifeless rumble down the one general precipice to the glacier below. When this final danger flashed upon me, I became nerve-shaken for the first time since setting foot on the mountains, and my mind seemed to fill with a stifling smoke. But this terrible eclipse lasted only a moment, when life blazed forth again with preternatural clearness. I seemed suddenly to become possessed of a new sense. The other self, bygone experiences, Instinct, or Guardian Angel, - call it what you will, - came forward and assumed control. Then my trembling muscles became firm again, every rift and flaw in the rock was seen as through |