Were all stars to disappear or die, I should learn to look at an empty sky And feel its total darkness sublime, Though this might take me a little time.
I had a thought recently, what if the existence of a benevolent, omnipotent creator was proven? and my first thought was that I would learn to love the world as the creation of a higher power.
And that disturbed me. It’s too new a thought for me to have plumbed it properly. But this reminded me. In the absence of the stars, what becomes of their beauty?
When the world is bereft of tigers, glaciers, the Amamzon, will we feel it to be sublime?
imma go read the poem now
The only interpretation I’ve been able to read into this is that the speaker wants to become more emotionally accepting of death. Am I missing something?
That interpretation didn’t even occur to me, possibly because I read the whole poem instead of the bit I quoted (and maybe I quoted the wrong bit). Here is the whole thing (it’s short). I always feel a bit awkward arguing about how I interpreted a poem, so maybe this will resolve the issue?
(Incidentally, am I the only one mildly annoyed by how people seem to think of “rationality quotes” as “anti-deathism quotes”? The position may be rational, but it is not remotely related to rationality.)
(Incidentally, am I the only one mildly annoyed by how people seem to think of “rationality quotes” as “anti-deathism quotes”? The position may be rational, but it is not remotely related to rationality.)
Thank you, that was helpful. I don’t see the deathist tones anymore. Now it reads a bit more like ‘If I happened to find myself in a world without stars I think I’d adapt,’ which reminds me a bit of the Litany of Gendlin and the importance of facing reality. It makes more sense to have it here now.
This is true, and now I have to go back and look at all the anti-deathist quotes I upvoted and examine them more closely for content directly related to rationality. Damn.
W. H. Auden, “The More Loving One”
I had a thought recently, what if the existence of a benevolent, omnipotent creator was proven? and my first thought was that I would learn to love the world as the creation of a higher power. And that disturbed me. It’s too new a thought for me to have plumbed it properly. But this reminded me. In the absence of the stars, what becomes of their beauty?
When the world is bereft of tigers, glaciers, the Amamzon, will we feel it to be sublime? imma go read the poem now
The only interpretation I’ve been able to read into this is that the speaker wants to become more emotionally accepting of death. Am I missing something?
That interpretation didn’t even occur to me, possibly because I read the whole poem instead of the bit I quoted (and maybe I quoted the wrong bit). Here is the whole thing (it’s short). I always feel a bit awkward arguing about how I interpreted a poem, so maybe this will resolve the issue?
(Incidentally, am I the only one mildly annoyed by how people seem to think of “rationality quotes” as “anti-deathism quotes”? The position may be rational, but it is not remotely related to rationality.)
You’re not the only one. We should be doing more firewalling the optimal from the rational in general.
Thank you, that was helpful. I don’t see the deathist tones anymore. Now it reads a bit more like ‘If I happened to find myself in a world without stars I think I’d adapt,’ which reminds me a bit of the Litany of Gendlin and the importance of facing reality. It makes more sense to have it here now.
This is true, and now I have to go back and look at all the anti-deathist quotes I upvoted and examine them more closely for content directly related to rationality. Damn.