The Remembered Gate

We were asked to find a 20 minute lifetime in 4 Quartets. I decided to take my specific section that I was given in the Capstone class and find one in there. I chose the passage that says,

"We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time."

This passage is very important to the concept of the 4 Quartets in its entirety. In East Coker, Eliot says "Old men make great explorers, Here and there does not matter, We must be still and still moving" Eliot's belief that our lives consist of constant exploration is one of knowledge and learning. A person, even an old man, will never stop learning because the world is filled with infinite amounts of knowledge. Thus, old men make great explorers because of their ability to appreciate silence and the knowledge which can be found in the present moment. The younger we are the more we want to travel to new places and conquer new goals. Eliot knows that it doesn't take a different setting to discover to unknown or have an epiphany. Rather the places which a person grew up are never fully known because they're not looked for (another Eliot quote). This is exactly what Eliot is trying to explain in the passage I picked. Only in death will a person arrive to a remembered place, a place that is similar to birth where a person is completely helpless and weak. Unlike birth an older wiser person will understand their place for the first time. In a hospital bed lying and waiting for death a person is fixed between the past and future. Thinking always of better times while anticipating their new adventure in death. It's in those last hours where one can experience a lifetime when they're thinking of all their good and bad moments, yet still carrying the wisdom that their old age granted them.