What a deeply satisfying answer--I consider myself lucky to be heard, on this level:
Fighting is no way to spend your present and when you know you are infinite...
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.