Putting Us in Our Place
What If There Were No Opposites?
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| Prospero and Miranda |
If there were no opposites –– no polar energy –– doubtless the earth would literally disintegrate. Untold quintillions of atoms no longer related to one another in cohesive, coherent patterns would scatter or be blown into aimless isolation. The Cosmos would be bereft of Planet Earth and all that evolved here, and all it once stood for or tried to become.
Would the Universe shed a tear over our loss?
Somehow, I doubt it.
My imagination tells me that in the unknown, unknowable aeons that came before the Universe, itself, began to emerge and coalesce, cataclysmic events of terrifying proportions and unfathomable magnitude have happened trillions and trillions of times without notice.
Quoth The Bard:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
~ The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1, 148-158
~ FreeThinke
In the unfathomable depth of the universe surely there are other chapters being written, other plays being acted out, by actors perhaps unlike ourselves. No, likely unlike ourselves.
ReplyDelete"There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men.
ReplyDeleteFacing both at once is too much to bear for some people.
Living is a sickness to which sleep provides relief every sixteen hours. It's a palliative. The remedy is death."
-- Nicolas de Chamfort
So there is no misunderstanding, unlike Chamfort, I am not planning on "taking leave of this earth", and I don't recommend it for anyone else.
ReplyDeleteHe also said this in his suicide note:
"My friend, I'm finally taking leave of this earth, a place where one's heart must either break or be hard as bronze."
Be tender to your family and friends, but forge your heart of bronze when facing the world.
Indeed one must have a heart of bronze, or, as bronze is rather soft actually, hardened steel is more apt.
ReplyDeleteThe key is to know when steel is required and when bronze will do.
For all other times life can provide the greatest joys as well. Often found in the most unlikely places at the most unlikely times.
Yin and Yang.
ReplyDeleteAs old as history.
In my view, we typically have to high a view of our indispensability. Oh, sure, perhaps the existence of each of us really matters to a few people. But, overall, we typically leave little footprint behind when we are gone.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of the above, God loves us and ascribes significance to each of us, His creatures whose worth is no more than that of a worm.
A grain of sand, a mere spec in time before most are lost without a trace. Except in the memory of a few fleeting generations.
ReplyDeleteExistence is fleeting.
Well, frankly, friends, I was hoping you would sense the beauty in looking at things -- as Shakespeare did - from a cosmic perspective.
ReplyDeleteIt's not to dismiss the human race and all our striving as valueless. Shakespeare, himself, and other protean figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Phidias, Praxitieles, Giotto, Michelangelo, Palladio, Bernini, Brunoleschi, Ghiberti, Rembrandt, Christopher Wren, Thomas jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dickens, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Henry James, possibly Edith Wharton, et al. belie that foolish notion.
Nevertheless, compared to the immensity, boundlessness and deep mystery of all Creation, even the very best we've achieved is small potatoes, indeed.
That doesn't depress me in the least.
If we were "IT," and everything depended solely on "US," there would only be cause for much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
What MAKES a figure like J.S. Bach so great is that he was obviously very much aware that there was a LOT more to Existence than family ties and the duties he had to perform in daily life to keep body and soul together. That's undoubtedly why in fulfilling his mundane obligations he was able to "quietly perform miracles" on a daily basis.
The less we care about Self and the more involved and absorbed we become with ALL Life, the better off we are apt to be.
The significance of tyrants and the poor, less-aware, less-evolved souls who adore and enable them pales in comparison to the prospects offered in contemplating Infinity and Eternity.
God IS Life. It's best we rejoice in it no matter what our circumstances may be.
~ FreeThinke
You celebrating Zapppadan this year, FT?
ReplyDeleteIs this an Aesthetic Realism lecture, FT.
ReplyDelete"celebrating Zapppadan this year, FT?"
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is that? Sounds like a made up religion.
I only celebrate legitimate ones, like Festivus. Uncle Charlie got a mansiere one year...
Only Moon andDweezle celebrate Zappadan.
ReplyDelete