Milton with a drawl. Well-deserving the “smithery” of “wordsmithery.”
The premise strikes me as eastern, no? Man turns his infinite energy against his infinite desire, thus he is his own object. “What then is man.” Negation. Simple as. But I ask you, “who, then is [each] man?”
If it's eastern, it's only by accident. I'm solidly western in my thinking. I was reading Consolation of Philosophy when I wrote this, which I think accounts for the mode of thought in the poem. I saw it as a baptismal, purgative and perfecting model for the soul, ultimately finding his place in the cosmic order. His infinite desire being perfected, and serving as a means for the circumcision of the flesh.
Each man would be like a individual heavenly body, orbiting the core of the universe in the proper way in accordance with his nature. Ultimately I see it as a harmonious, poetic cosmology which is an extension of his own Type.
Ah! The means "float beyond his thirst—" which I should've weighted more before I spoke. Apologies. East/west was the wrong category.
Just thinking here—perhaps Boethius disturbs me. I mean, certainly I could not think that himself is man's gain cutting himself from passions; and certainly I could not think nature hands him the scalpel for removing precisely her own prime vestige. I seek my passions to have them more truly; and I imagine a man who tries to cut himself off from the passions becomes precisely nothing but.
It seems to me (no author has the last word on his own work) that this poem is the result of a self-dialogue, like Boethius and Lady Philosophy. In this case, it's my own self-dialogue between Affirmation of the passions and Negation of the passions. (Both of which I believe to be legitimate ways to God.) An excision of desire has, at times, seemed necessary to me, serving to remove the "overgrowth" as a palliative. This may be specific to the mass acquisition of the lower goods; Too much food, too many movies, etc. cause dullness and insensitivity. I suppose this poem is a hope that the affirmation of the passions can be used to excise inordinate amounts of desire, in order to maintain the pleasure of lower goods while also being rightly ordered towards higher goods.
One of my favorites of yours. Well done!
Thanks! It gladdens me to hear it.
Milton with a drawl. Well-deserving the “smithery” of “wordsmithery.”
The premise strikes me as eastern, no? Man turns his infinite energy against his infinite desire, thus he is his own object. “What then is man.” Negation. Simple as. But I ask you, “who, then is [each] man?”
If it's eastern, it's only by accident. I'm solidly western in my thinking. I was reading Consolation of Philosophy when I wrote this, which I think accounts for the mode of thought in the poem. I saw it as a baptismal, purgative and perfecting model for the soul, ultimately finding his place in the cosmic order. His infinite desire being perfected, and serving as a means for the circumcision of the flesh.
Each man would be like a individual heavenly body, orbiting the core of the universe in the proper way in accordance with his nature. Ultimately I see it as a harmonious, poetic cosmology which is an extension of his own Type.
Ah! The means "float beyond his thirst—" which I should've weighted more before I spoke. Apologies. East/west was the wrong category.
Just thinking here—perhaps Boethius disturbs me. I mean, certainly I could not think that himself is man's gain cutting himself from passions; and certainly I could not think nature hands him the scalpel for removing precisely her own prime vestige. I seek my passions to have them more truly; and I imagine a man who tries to cut himself off from the passions becomes precisely nothing but.
It seems to me (no author has the last word on his own work) that this poem is the result of a self-dialogue, like Boethius and Lady Philosophy. In this case, it's my own self-dialogue between Affirmation of the passions and Negation of the passions. (Both of which I believe to be legitimate ways to God.) An excision of desire has, at times, seemed necessary to me, serving to remove the "overgrowth" as a palliative. This may be specific to the mass acquisition of the lower goods; Too much food, too many movies, etc. cause dullness and insensitivity. I suppose this poem is a hope that the affirmation of the passions can be used to excise inordinate amounts of desire, in order to maintain the pleasure of lower goods while also being rightly ordered towards higher goods.