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Poetry
Joe, have you gotten any pfc responses to your very good poetic attachment? I have seen nothing but perhaps you have received some off list posts. Different POV's [points of view] would explain this. Not all enjoy paradoxes as we do. I think some are threatened by them. This reminds me of the different point of views that constantly appear an we try to adjust to on this list. Also, POV's --THE major world problem. Recently finished a book about a Kabbalistic rabbi, "The Book of Lights" by Chaim Potok. One of his old K texts that he read from said: "A wise man knows his own POV's. My conclusion: Resist not the kooky POV of others. Joseph Joseph, No, other than the email you forwarded to me, no one seemed to respond. Doesn't mean no one read it, or visited the link, however. The thing I have noticed is that when a statement is made artistically (in poetry, symbol, picture, or song, etc..), there is often no verbal intellectual response possible. When a statement is made in a logical and intellectual fashion, however, it often lends itself to being picked apart. I have often observed people's response to sacred art, and have seen it inspire some, while frustrating others. A well done work of art can challenge a person to expand their POV, while not providing an easy means of refutation - in other words art can be quite subversive. So if a person senses that some piece of art questions their own personal view of "truth", while at the same time evoking a sense of "beauty", it can indeed be quite frightening - they know they're being seduced/impregnated, but they don't know what to do about it. Art can bypass one's intellectual defenses and seduce. An understanding of how art does this is one way of inoculating oneself. I once wrote a presentation on influence/persuasion for a bota study group I once was coordinator for (down in St. Pete), I will fish it out and send it to you. On the POV topic, I agree this is a very important concept to understand. You write: "a wise man knows his own POV's. An enlightened man knows his own POV and that of others, accepts all and sees all as progressive." My conclusion: Resist not the kooky POV of others." I recognize the wisdom in these words. Thank you. The challenge of course is to be able to live these words even when those of alternate POV are trying to harm or even kill you. Joe I don't need to resist or try to change their kooky conclusions, Life will change them, but i damn well will resist their efforts to harm me or kill me. Hopefully, I will see it coming and duck. I observed a long time ago how verse bypasses the critical mind, especially rhyming verse. I have seen some of the most banal thoughts put into blank verse and get praise and acceptance from otherwise intelligent people. Adding tones or music to the words makes it more irresistible. The secret of chanting's effect on subconsciousness and a mother's crooning to her infant. Painting can very deceiving, too. Cycles are a kind of rhythm--the measured expression of the Self. Very good observations on the seductiveness of art. Look forward to your monograph. Joseph
_____________________ 21 Jun 2001 Trying to straddle both sides of the Divine Paradox can be slippery business. Most often the result is "Half-Wisdom". We can talk about things from our own limited perspective, and we can talk about things as we imagine they must be from the One Will's perspective. The supreme challenge is in reconciling this paradox. Trying to express it in words is even more futile. Straight expository prose almost always misses the mark, if for no other reason than the fact that the intellect is insufficient by itself. In my opinion, poetry can come the closest of any written form, but it is far too subtle for most folks, unless it can touch on the universals of Beauty and Love, and through guiding the imagination give us a taste of those experiences which take us the closest to ecstatic union. Perhaps poetry (and/or visual art) that guides the imagination and lights up the chakras in order, leading up to a catharsis - an understanding or realization of unity which gives us a reminder that we can apply in life, has promise. Sacred Art! Want to express the inexpressible? Then to all us sacred poets out there, get crackin! RL _____________________ Your comments on poetry reinforced my thoughts on the matter--discovered about 10 years ago. Well crafted poetry does seem to stay in memory, IMO, for two reasons: emotion and insight. 1. The desire to create poetry initially springs from intense feelings that we wish to share. Can't see anyone just sitting down cold to write poetry. There must be a stimulating vision one is excited about and wants to share. These feeling usually involve perceptions of beauty of some kind. 2. There must be clarifying insights about this vision that will arrest the thoughts of the reader and the insights need to be self evident. "Yeah, I knew that now that you put it in this way." A sense of obviousness is transmitted. 3. When the authors feeling about beauty and his/her insights fall into a reader's receptive niche, a subtle feeling of union, of commonality, happens that temporarily abridges our feeling of "aloneness." There needs to be a transmitted feeling, couched in beauty and truth, of joyful recognition of our universality--our Oneness. 4. Eloquence is necessary in the production of good poetry. This involves a precise choice of words. leanly stitched together, that transmits the writers emotions and ideas directly, without any interpretive effort.
Now that I have dissected the poetic impulse and product, forget all this stuff and just go and write your poetry as it suits you. Joseph _____________________ I have discovered, that in writing poetry, the real challenge is to create a poem of arresting beauty, balance, rhythm, and eloquence, while still staying true to one's highest understanding of truth. This is the creative process of building a proper "form" which to house and deliver/communicate the essence - that kernel of truth (Unity). Thus a Poet is a Verbal Chariot builder. Read Lion _____________________
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