Re: New topic split from 'concise criticism of analytic idealism' thread.
Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 4:53 am
Is it reasonably possible to misunderstand my previous post to the point of believing I was speaking of the poem? What I think is more likely is that you understood my post, but couldn't resist taking a free storyteller ride on the back of my words.Lou Gold wrote: ↑Fri Jul 29, 2022 11:10 pmOh Federica, I totally agree about NOT retreating into a romantic refuge, which is precisely why Wendell Berry has been an exemplar of deep spiritual-and-practical work for many. In his long life he has managed to reject many of the trappings of modernity and remain incredibly engaged including never using a computer, farming ancestral land for years behind a horse-driven plow, raising with his wife Tanya three very involved -in-the-world children, advocating for regenerative agriculture, as well as engaging in social and environmental activism, while writing 52 books of fiction, poetry, and essays of political and cultural criticism for which he received the National Humanities Award. This is definitely not taking romantic refuge in the enchanted forests of La-la-land. Here's a recently published New Yorker magazine article, which I synchronously(?) read yesterday: "Wendell Berry's Advice for a Cataclysmic Age."Federica wrote: ↑Fri Jul 29, 2022 7:34 pmLou Gold wrote: ↑Fri Jul 29, 2022 3:25 am
Reflecting deeper about Cleric's lovely phrase -- "we're influencing each other in the most various ways" -- I'm moved to share with you Wendell Berry's poem about mature love In the Country of Marriage, which portrays the forest as a central metaphor. Here are a few lines:
Sometimes our life reminds me
of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing
and in that opening a house,
an orchard and garden,
comfortable shades, and flowers
red and yellow in the sun, a pattern
made in the light for the light to return to.
The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep on going in.
Yes the forest is a central metaphor, I love it too. It can symbolize our life theater and the challenge we are called to live up to - like in Ashvin’s post on the ‘I was reading this’ thread - or it can become a dreamy refuge, like in this poem. Obviously there is a place and a value for these feelings and their poetic expression, but I have to ask you this, Lou, and I am sorry. Is it really worth our nature to spend our days, talents and energies rolling our esthetic and narrative curls, playing around al libitum with contemplative pieces and communion material of the most various kinds, while there’s so much vital work waiting to be tackled for our own survival? And of course everyone is free to take romantic refuge in the enchanted forests of La-la-land and wait there for the End to take charge, but for myself, I respond to a different call.
PS: The "Country of Marriage" poem is much longer than the excerpt I provided, which might have suggested a romantic theme out of context.