Saturday, May 13, 2006

A never ending rage

"How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light." Barry Lopez

6 comments:

J C said...

Heavy!

I don't buy it though, at least not the first part. Finding darkness is a must, without light there would be none. And who says you have to live a moral and compassionate existence, and to who's qualifications. In some cases, the darkness qualifies.
The darkness in this post is the first sentence. I'd start at start at "If"


I really like the part about leaning into the light from the darkness, pearing in, dig it, my next post is exactly that.

Consider Barry critisized. :)

Lauren said...

Do you think that losing idealism is a necessary part of becoming an adult, or just an unfortunate side effect most of the time?

J C said...

I think the forms of idealism change as people grow. I mean, your ideal world as a child is probably quite different to the one you think of now.

For instance, as a young child, you live through a phase of believing that the world is governed by will or desire. You get older and realise the world doesn't work that way. Experience, or wisdom is a necessary part of becoming an adult.

I'm liking this topic, me likes, me likes, me likes.

Quitmoanez said...

I think one demystifies life as one grows, but the adults that fail are the ones who don't re-enchant it.

renamaphone said...

Mmmm, that's worth thinking about, CQ.

Anonymous said...

Our Own Innocence and Experience

One of Blake's best-known themes is the contrast between innocence and experience. A child begins life protected, trusting that he/she is surrounded by goodness. (Shakespeare uses the expression for a simple-minded, guileless person in "The Winter's Tale" V.ii.) Experience brings awareness that everything is not pleasant or right. Blake contrasted these themes in paired poems. God made a sweet lamb, and God made a terrible tiger. Little chimney sweeps sing thankfully in church, and an adult recognizes how abominably these child-slaves are being treated. Children dance in a meadow, and their caregiver remembers how little she knew as a child and how much time she wasted.

Blake wrote, "Without contraries there is no progression." Blake's hope was that life could be redeemed by love and art, to a state of "organized innocence", goodness without ignorance. A child hearing Blake's poetry first laughs (innocence), then weeps (experience), then weeps for joy (organized innocence.)

The lily, the cloud, and the clay all serve others, and teach that life is indeed worth living. The lily assures Thel of a happy afterlife. The cloud teaches Thel that all life is wonderfully interconnected. The clay promises that Thel will be nurtured, and offers her the opportunity to have experience. Thel realizes this is the answer that she was seeking, even though she does not (yet?) act upon it.

We have all known teenage ennui. "Who am I?" "I'm nobody." "My life has no purpose." "What does this all mean?" "Maybe I'd be better off dead." Yet we've seen the same people refuse to take the risks and face the challenges that would bring meaning to their lives.

Perhaps Blake is saying, on one level, "This is easy to understand. It is hard really to grasp all the challenges of life. Be patient with such people. Perhaps they can remain innocent."