Part 1: Questions
A thousand worries weighing down my mind,
Forgotten at the sight of a bright blue sky.
The cacophony of demons trying to break down locked doors,
Drowned out by a refrain sublime.
Glimpses into infinity, far beyond the provincial,
Visions of the self, revealing answers and questions,A thousand worries weighing down my mind,
Forgotten at the sight of a bright blue sky.
The cacophony of demons trying to break down locked doors,
Drowned out by a refrain sublime.
Glimpses into infinity, far beyond the provincial,
Questions that propel me to seek, to learn.
Therefore, I am. Therefore, I wander.
I have more questions than answers. But that inspires no fear in my mind. Far from it, it is the force that drives me - to be, to live, to wander, to seek, to learn. In life, I revel. Is that not power*? If so, where does it stem from? More questions - wonderful!
Part 2 - Answers
Vast open spaces. Endless skies. Clouds. As I looked upon just such a scene, I felt as though I was looking upon the very visage of freedom itself. The clouds, they come and go as they please, they rain down upon the land when it is their whim to do so, they answer to none.** As I looked upon that scene, I realized that their freedom stemmed from the absence of any moorings whatsoever.
Power derives from knowledge and knowledge itself is born out of freedom, freedom of thought. And such power is true as it is supreme - for it is contingent upon no fact save that of one's existence.
A man without beliefs, a god*** without believers,
Beholden to none, all powerful, am I.
* I do not speak of power in the mundane oft-used sense of the word. Power over the actions of of others and to an extent even my own, mean little to me. When liberty of action is but an illusion, how can power over actions be real? True power is that of free thought - the shedding of chains forged by thousands of years of human civilization, chains we receive in the name of education. A human mind free of all bonds is truly a thing of beauty and of immense power. It is that very power that I speak of.
** Here, I speak of the vision of the clouds that I saw and not of the objects that the clouds really are. What I saw at that moment was much more than merely "a visible mass of condensed droplets or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere".
*** I DO NOT refer to any supreme being with a penchant for rolling dice. Also, I feel no obligation to capitalise the word because it is just that, a word. Words have no meaning in the absolute, only ideas do. I use the word merely to describe a state of equilibrium that transcends the mundane. I think John Keats was thinking of much the same thing when he wrote "Beauty is truth truth beauty."
8 comments:
:) ur posts never fail to put tht smile on my face...wat can i 'comment'..
"brilliant" seems an underestimation...
well, gee... thanks. I really don't know what to say except that I would love some criticism.
Well written Macnife, and many of the things I do agree with, save one.
Relation between idea and word (language). Without words it would be difficult, if not impossible, to think, to communicate, store knowledge. And our (mine, yours) knowledge today is the accumulation of centuries of thought captured in words. So we cannot really break free of 'chains forged by human civilization'.
In the absence of language, our thoughts would be ephemeral, existing only for the moment.
First of all, thanks... thanks for reading my ramblings and thanks for having nice things to say about it.
I totally agree with you about the importance of words (i.e. language) - it is right up there with fire and the wheel on the list of pivotal developments in human history. What I intended to say was that words have no inherent power. Words derive their power from the idea(s) they express.
As for thoughts being ephemeral without words to save them for posterity, it is not entirely true. Not all knowledge takes the form of words - primates, for example, transmit knowledge from one generation to the next without the use of words. Granted it's not quite as efficient a medium as a human language but it does work.
So, once I again I go back to the same notion - words become powerful when there is a powerful idea underlying them i.e., a great idea is akin to a brilliant sun and words are merely a moon reflecting that light. And just like the moon, words have a certain beauty to them.
Sheesh! That comment turned out a lot longer than I intended it to be. :-D
As far as the breaking of "chains forged by human civilization" goes, not only do I think it possible but also easy. We simply need to hold on to the questioning mind that we possessed as children. By rejecting that which is without proof incontrovertible and seeking to learn without pause, we can break any chain no matter how big or how old.
Wow! That was a great explanation. Point taken - thoughts/ideas are prime, words or symbols are mere representations of that idea.
I'm glad that you think I make sense. Thanks again for reading my post and also for all the nice things you've said.
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