One unique subject discussed over dinner was the metaphysical basis for the underlying spiritual topography of the WoT. Specifically, one member of the dinner party asked RJ whether he had intentionally woven core elements of the world’s various spiritual/mystical traditions into his work, or whether those ideas were in fact manifesting THROUGH him as pure art.
His answer was a description of his bookshelf at home, which begins at the left side with the Christian Bible, continues into more Judeo-Christian texts, then picks up with the Quran, with books on Hindusim (I got the sense he was referring to the Bhagavad-Gita, but would need to check with him to be sure), Buddhist texts, and then what he called various “discourses” on world religion and spiritual philosophy.
In short—RJ is a student of world relgion, which explains much of the religious diversity of his work, not just in terms of the many cultures of his world but in terms of the underlying metaphysical structure of his universe.
By the way, Robert Jordan also sent me an email recently further describing his book collection.
The bookshelf I spoke of is one bookcase that holds my books on religion. There are a couple of others for mythology, and a great many covering nonfiction and fiction. At present, the total collection is around thirteen thousand volumes in my study. That’s the carriage house behind what is colloquially called “the big house” in Charleston, the main dwelling, whether it is all that big or not; books in the big house aren’t part of this total since most of them are Harriet’s, and she doesn’t catalog her books. I’m trying to pare that number down because I don’t have enough room. Unfortunately, as fast as I can give books away, I buy more. Oh, well.
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