Category Archives: Philosophical Questions

An Inch of an Odyssey

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I like Taoist thought. You know, yin and yang, light and dark, how they always balance and counteract each other. I also love the idea that all distance is the same relative to infinity. This poem explores these ideas a bit.

An inch of an odyssey takes infinite time
Forever toward it
Forever undone, forever undone, ever undone
Assuming an end is presuming a beginning
Look where you’ve been. You look! You see!
Then wonder “Where on earth am I going?”
Preparing for death frees the wind
to sigh, breathing a soft, new breeze
blowing a tender new bud, unique seedling

Our days and our nights
Swallow each other whole-
Lune lusts for shadow chased Helios
There is no up, there is no down,
Nor back to the belly, nor the crown.
Only forward we lean to fall, grind, roll,
Heave atop the vanishing moment
Hop the lilting merrygoround.

Maps crumble into soot
pinched thin by greasy fingers
peddling false, painted mirrors.
Furrowed, worn paths fell us safely
To known, well trodden soil, dense, smooth, glossed
Away from the path to the effervescent fields
The path through the marshes, ripe, rank and raw
Away from the path beyond to gardenia festooned hills
There is no end, no beginning
Day and night flashes-
Tingling fragrant sparks
In our hearts.

Michelangelo on Beauty

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If there ever were perfect words to guide an artists life, here they are: 

"Neither my eyes in love with all that is beautiful, nor my soul thirsting for salvation, possess any power that can raise them to Heaven but the contemplation of beautiful things. From the highest heaven there streams down a splendour which draws desire up towards the stars, and here on earth men call it love. And there is nothing that can captivate, fire and give wisdom to a noble heart as can a face lit with star-like eyes." – Michelangelo c. 1534

 

Myth of Tomorrow

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I’ve been reading a book called the Myth of Tomorrow by Gary Buffone, Ph.D. The title is poetically apt. It’s an investigation into how the honesty of Death spurs us to live more fully. Those who have had near death experiences show a much richer, more positive view of life. They are more willing to love, more willing to take chances, more willing to change. They appreciate what they have. How can we train ourselves to live now as fully as possible? It’s quite an undertaking, pardon the pun. But a healthy respect for death gives a fresh perspective to the little gripes that often occupy much of a day. Think about it…

Anyway, this book also has some wonderful quotes, which I’d like to enter here on a regular basis. Here’s the first. “If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is inside you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you” —Gospel of St. Thomas