Interesting poems and questions posed, Brian. I have found for me that fragments of Truth to be everywhere and nowhere. Putting those fragments together seems like putting together a puzzle made from cotton - no hard edges. One question I repeatedly return to is "What is it that seeks the answer?" I have no answer.
Brian, I've kept coming back to this poem since its first reading. It echoes in my ear in that particular way words do when they contain unfolding truth. This poem feels like a gathering of ideas in motion--a breathing poem ("a body will be breathed") It has a pulse and asks new questions with every listening. It is alive. For me, one way of finding meaning is to try to ask more beautiful questions every day. A poem like this can be such a help. Even the smallest bit contains enormous truth:
". . .air, thin air . . ." Even this. Right now, the air we're breathing contains oxygen like the finest thread suturing our breath to the hemoglobin in our blood. There is intrinsic meaning and relationship right now in this breath. And yes, I think it is our ongoing human task to keep looking for it.
You said it well:
"My way of usefully but non-dogmatically answering the question of meaning is to see the meaning of life as simply to create meaning."
Interesting poems and questions posed, Brian. I have found for me that fragments of Truth to be everywhere and nowhere. Putting those fragments together seems like putting together a puzzle made from cotton - no hard edges. One question I repeatedly return to is "What is it that seeks the answer?" I have no answer.
Such a blessing…
Brian, I've kept coming back to this poem since its first reading. It echoes in my ear in that particular way words do when they contain unfolding truth. This poem feels like a gathering of ideas in motion--a breathing poem ("a body will be breathed") It has a pulse and asks new questions with every listening. It is alive. For me, one way of finding meaning is to try to ask more beautiful questions every day. A poem like this can be such a help. Even the smallest bit contains enormous truth:
". . .air, thin air . . ." Even this. Right now, the air we're breathing contains oxygen like the finest thread suturing our breath to the hemoglobin in our blood. There is intrinsic meaning and relationship right now in this breath. And yes, I think it is our ongoing human task to keep looking for it.
You said it well:
"My way of usefully but non-dogmatically answering the question of meaning is to see the meaning of life as simply to create meaning."