This was a beautiful post, thank you. You are my favorite find on Steemit /\
How old were you when you left Cairo? William Durant (you may know his Story of Civilization books) said something in his first in the series about how the warriors of the north always came to overtake the poets and artists of the south. I think about that so much in every 'battle' I've had to get in. MLk Jr said that "Those who love peace need to organize as effectively as those who love war", but I think that is precisely what we won't ever do, simply because the act of organizing and hyper focusing on winning some thing or dominance of space is really a characteristic of the linear thinking that separates warriors from the more fluid poets by nature. We don't care to organize, or as you noted, fatigue of it very easily. Fighting is no way to spend your present and when you know you are infinite (whether, you have the literacy or command of intellect to describe it as such), you just don't have the desire to spend it fighting. That's why the poets always end up 'turning the other cheek' because we hope to show the linear warriors what we know is true by our non attachment to life/ land etc.
Proverbs can be like coral reef, that way, fossils of ancient philosophies merging with living truths.
I loved this line, they are merged because they are one organism.
So, love the moon, lose the monkey and recognize your masters with humility- a great take away that is eternally relevant haha
What a deeply satisfying answer--I consider myself lucky to be heard, on this level:
Yes, to turning the other cheek, yes, to non attachment. Let them have this world. But, I'm also insanely idealistic to believe, with Shelley, that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. Furthermore, paraphrasing MLK, that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
Eventually, the materialists, fighters, "linear warriors" come to a dead end, and recognize the futility in their ways, and that's when they are ready to listen to the ever-present, unwavering message of the poets: Love and Peace. But, it takes time to 'change the value of the currency' as Diogenes called for and, unfortunately, people only change when they absolutely must... Never lose hope, friend.
Thanks again, for your profound and wonderful affirmation. Beam on
_/|\_PS - I was 32 when I left Cairo, so 12 years ago...
Perhaps the arc that bends towards justice is similar to those arcs in calculus where it gets infinitely closer to a point but can never get there, so we bend and the poets keep their eye on the 'x' , yet we have to learn to not suffer from frustration of where we are. To somehow be discontent enough to continue the move forward, yet not so discontent that we are suffering into infinity. And maybe that's our lesson, or the lessons of the poets that still suffer, not specifically you or I. Just thinking out loud.
If we Trust, and are invested in Elsewhere, we do not suffer... Sweet dreams, friend 🙏🏼
PS - Here’s Beckett thinking outloud:
What is demanded of the artist is that, as an individual, he vanish from his work...
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Yes, you must be here, and also, millions of light-years away. All at the same time…
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Writing has led me to Silence
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[The mystics] I like… I like their… their illogicality… their burning illogicality – the flame… the flame… which consumes all our filthy logic.
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Ever Tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again.
Fail again. Fail better.
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You're on earth. There's no cure for that.