"However that may be, I now wish that I had spent somewhat more of my life with verse. This is not because I fear having missed out on truths that are incapable of statement in prose. There are no such truths; there is nothing about death that Swinburne and Landor knew but Epicurus and Heidegger failed to grasp. Rather, it is because I would have lived more fully if I had been able to rattle off more old chestnuts — just as I would have if I had made more close friends. Cultures with richer vocabularies are more fully human — farther removed from the beasts — than those with poorer ones; individual men and women are more fully human when their memories are amply stocked with verses."
- Richard McKay Rorty, 1931-2007 American Philosopher
The Fire of Life, 2007
Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature: Thirtieth-Anniversary Edition
"We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea."
- A. C. Swinburne, "Garden of Proserpine"
I have followed your blog for some time and I enjoy it thoroughly. Martial arts, especially internal martial arts as I am getting older, have been a major interest for most of my life as well as Qigong. Also, I would consider myself a follower of the Dao.
ReplyDeletePoetry has been a major force in my life. I have written much poetry and read even more. When I was learning Chinese many years ago, one of the first things that I learned were the classical four line Chinese poems. I can still repeat them without prompting after many, many years. I would agree that poetry is one of the great civilizing forces for humanity.
Professor Rorty argued at times for philosophy being a kind of literature. Certainly, poetry has often been used to express profound and beautiful insights.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, sir, with your practices.