tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post6998098337645844439..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: A Sparrow. A Fluttering Thing.Stephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-76805076502099651912015-01-06T10:53:37.581-08:002015-01-06T10:53:37.581-08:00Mr Floyd: Thank you very much for the wonderful p...Mr Floyd: Thank you very much for the wonderful poem by Dickinson, which is new to me. It fits well with the passage from Plato which you quote, particularly: "Education takes for granted that sight is there . . ."<br /><br />As you know, the Buddhist and Taoist traditions teach that everything we need to know is right there in front of our noses, but we remain ignorant. Plato's statement and Dickinson's poem bring to mind the experience of "enlightenment" in Buddhism. In fact, Dickinson sounds like a Zen Buddhist roshi: "the Props withdraw" and "the Scaffolds drop" sound exactly like a description of satori/enlightenment.<br /><br />Thank you very much for your thoughts, and for providing us with these perfectly complementary passages. Greetings in the New Year!Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-90178157301813337632015-01-06T10:42:57.266-08:002015-01-06T10:42:57.266-08:00Fred: Thank you again for recommending it. It is...Fred: Thank you again for recommending it. It is, as you say, the type of book you can dip into at random and come away with something you haven't seen before. For instance, I now need to look further into William Law.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-91006635973333558082015-01-06T10:22:22.280-08:002015-01-06T10:22:22.280-08:00I read a short essay last night on Plato’s “Allego...I read a short essay last night on Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” Reading the essay, I realized I had forgotten that Socrates (and Plato too) believed that the truth did not lie outside of man but inside. The Socratic dialogue proves this point. Ask questions, point out contradictions, and Socrates finally helps his interlocutor find the truth. What Plato, through Socrates, is saying is that education has the power to liberate one.<br /><br />Here’s Plato on the power of education to liberate:<br /><br />Education isn’t what some people declare it to be, namely, putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes . . .Education takes for granted that sight is there but that it isn’t turned the right way or where it ought to look, and it tries to redirect is appropriately.<br /><br />The below poem by Dickinson says pretty much the same thing. You will remember that Keats in one of his letters described life as a "vale of soul-making."<br /><br />I'd like to think the soul is not static, that it is capable of growth. Perhaps the soul is conscious of itself and can, if it desires, expand, grow, improve itself. We train our bodies; I do not see why the soul cannot train itself, teach itself, as Plato says, to look the right way. <br /><br /><br />The Props assist the House<br />Until the House is built<br />And then the Props withdraw<br />And adequate, erect,<br />The House support itself<br />And cease to recollect<br />The Auger and the Carpenter—<br />Just such a retrospect<br />Hath the perfected Life—<br />A past of Plank and Nail<br />And slowness—then the Scaffolds drop<br />Affirming it a Soul.B. Floydnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-87592497627291695342015-01-05T19:46:15.677-08:002015-01-05T19:46:15.677-08:00Stephen,
That's how I read it. I just open to...Stephen,<br /><br />That's how I read it. I just open to the TOC and select a topic.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-54940793754135209652015-01-05T19:30:20.733-08:002015-01-05T19:30:20.733-08:00Fred: Thank you for the recommendation: the book ...Fred: Thank you for the recommendation: the book is new to me. After receiving your comment, I found a copy on the Internet Archive, and have been perusing it. A very interesting approach, isn't it? <br /><br />I started with the chapter entitled "Silence," and immediately encountered these wonderful thoughts:<br /><br />"What need of so much news from abroad, when all that concerns either life or death is all transacting and at work within us?" (William Law)<br /><br />"A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker." (Chuang Tzu)<br /><br />Great stuff! Thank you again for the recommendation.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-29039387809968264532015-01-05T19:21:43.645-08:002015-01-05T19:21:43.645-08:00Susan: Greetings in the New Year! Thank you for ...Susan: Greetings in the New Year! Thank you for stopping by, and thank you as well for sharing the passage from the poem by Stephen Dobyns. <br /><br />I have tracked down the text of the full poem on the Internet: I like how he transforms Bede's anecdote. It is wonderful how the anecdote has survived over so many centuries. It obviously speaks to something we all can understand.<br /><br />Thank you again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-90331710738541776932015-01-05T18:59:01.204-08:002015-01-05T18:59:01.204-08:00Stephen,
In line with your comment above, have yo...Stephen,<br /><br />In line with your comment above, have you read Aldous Huxley's _The Perennial Philosophy_?<br /><br />From the Wikipedia entry on the work:<br /><br />"The Perennial Philosophy is an attempt to present this Highest Common Factor of all theologies by assembling passages from the writings of those saints and prophets who have approached a direct spiritual knowledge of the Divine,...<br /><br />The book offers readers, who are assumed to be familiar with the Christian religion and the Bible, a fresh approach employing Eastern and Western mysticism:<br /><br />Mr. Huxley quotes from the Chinese Taoist philosophers, from followers of Buddha and Mohammed, from the Brahmin scriptures and from Christian mystics ranging from St John of the Cross to William Law, giving preference to those whose writings, often illuminated by genius, are unfamiliar to the modern reader."<br /><br /><br />Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-20525521932211765992015-01-05T18:37:15.845-08:002015-01-05T18:37:15.845-08:00"This is where we are in history -- to think
... "This is where we are in history -- to think<br />the table will remain full; to think the forest will<br />remain where we have pushed it;<br /><br />to think our bubble of good fortune will save us from the night -- a bird flies in<br />from the dark, flits across a lighted hall and disappears."<br />From "Where We Are" <br /> by Stephen Dobyns<br /><br />This is a rougher modern version of the theme -- fascinating how many versions there have been.<br />SusanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-70659312180709718352015-01-05T15:33:17.330-08:002015-01-05T15:33:17.330-08:00Fred: I would never say that age automatically ma...Fred: I would never say that age automatically makes one wiser, but it does perhaps allow one to see, through greater experience, that there is, as the saying goes, nothing new under the sun, and that most cultures arrive at similar conclusions about fundamental human matters. <br /><br />Thus, I appreciate your drawing these parallels with Taoism and the Rubaiyat. It seems that all of us, as humans, are striving -- have always striven -- to make some sense of these things. Not that we ever achieve final answers, mind you.<br /><br />Thank you very much for pointing out these particular connections.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-66487463602910563092015-01-05T07:06:16.588-08:002015-01-05T07:06:16.588-08:00Stephen,
This seems to be a world-wide idea, not ...Stephen,<br /><br />This seems to be a world-wide idea, not limited to Europeans. Taoists say we come from the Void and return to the Void--or we don't know where we come from and where we go at the end.<br /><br />And, of course, it's a common theme in the Rubaiyat, although to be honest, I'll have to check some other translations as FitzGerald really didn't do a strict translation much of the time. Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.com