Poetry is not airy-fairy boop-dee-doop. Poetry is raw-boned encounter with the angel of the abyss. Heidegger said it well: "Poetry is the saying of the unconcealedness of what is."
The ego-consciousness likes to skim and skitter on the surface of being, for to go to the depths is to go to its death, its transformation. And it likes the way it is, thank you very much!
One has to become the abyss and only then will it transform. "This very abyss is full of the darkness of God, and where one experiences it, let him climb down and howl in it (that is more necessary than to cross over it)." (Rilke)
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Just reading this takes me deeper. Thanks again for shining the light!
ReplyDeleteIn many of my readings, I'm finding Rilke quoted more and more. It seems to me he's become a poet of our age and I wish more people would become familiar with his strange, beautiful and profound verse. I'm glad you quoted him here, George.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Rilke is stating the path of suffering to enlightenment. The darkness of God could just be the normal state of human affairs at work, greed, violence, general insanity of daily living. I like the Buddhist interpretation of the end of illusions and delusions and of describing evil as a form of unconsciousness or insanity. Buddha and Christ were two very compassionate men who transcended the illusions of the human world and what is defined as being human. Both became symbols of hope and salvation. They both became Gods though they were humble beings. One is a symbol of the ultimate teacher, the other became a symbol of ultimate suffering. Only in the West is it considered normal to hurt another and make them suffer, r.e. Christ. I got mine no matter what the cost. I earned it. You are espousing views which threaten my world view. You must be destroyed. Now the East is adopting the views of the West. Is that progress?
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