I can't get over "...from which no news returns." This line is breaking me open to the utter bittersweet, guiding towards the heartbreak of my day. As a poet, to succumb to the emptiness at the end of a dredging writing... now is too much to witness.
I feel... the loneliness that comes with the territory of being... that once the 'poetic form' has found itself from you... there is no answer to this end.
You and the poem must be resolute to exist for one another. The question, the answer, the continuing life afterwards...
(I'm too much alone, or notice the lonely life, of my own creation... as my constant witness and initiator to my life-worth-living , it's an ego-tionally draining life. Especially stuck in the mode of witness to others successful lives via socal media. In such a regurgitative social system... real words and real living is lost for some 'viral frequency' of what is 'pop' or - easy to produce...
I don't know where I'm going with this... to be succinct now...
"The loss of poetic living... replaced by viral seeking purpose...)
I do apologize for unleavening my self here... yet, isn't that just the way of poems?
You touch on some existential tensions here for the creative, and so, for living, regarding the contemporary push toward virality. These tensions, it would seem to me, are not birthed of the intrinsic creative fire (in us all) but of the desire for recognition, which is conditioned.
These tensions you illuminate find in me a question that you seem to answer:
You and the poem must be resolute to exist for one another. The question, the answer, the continuing life afterwards...
I find in your words common ground with words the mystics have shared of their devotion to their Beloved. Rumi comes to mind as mystic-poet, but others, too.
Rilke said in his Letters to a Young Poet:
"This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple 'I must', then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. . . ."
These words and yours seem mirrors of one another.
And every mystic has encountered no less a 'must'.
What a gorgeous completion to this series! This is idea of being as the way (the path, the channel) that what wants to be created comes forth has woven itself into the fabric of me. I've been thinking about it constantly. It's become such a part of my Container of Presence that now I can't recall a time when it wasn't there. I can't thank you enough for this gift, dear friend. ❤️ And then to hear it in your voice! It's remarkable, truly.
In reading your reflection here, I have a sudden and more immediate understanding of the Container of Presence from your recent beautiful post. An Aha! Thank you for sharing this here
Resisting the impulse not to fill the gap and not to lose us, such an important place to return to over and over, so that what can come through comes through. An encouraging model for me. Thanks Renee.
Thank you for commenting on this reflection in the letter. Over the past weeks, I have been listening to a series of talks given by James Finley regarding the mystic Meister Eckhart. I was struck with pause when I heard him say that in sharing, he (Finley) would endeavor to be as transparent as possible about what was happening in him and what was fleeting and what was absent when trying to convey Eckhart's message, saying that Eckhart himself planted the seed in him about this transparency . . . and so, when I came upon similar moments these weeks, I stayed . . . and then, I could pass this transparency on to you all.
The gaps are too numerous and at times too gaping to be filled. What if we let that be and acknowledge them . . . "so that what can come through comes through"?
I'm going to keep thinking about passing transparency on, as vulnerability is such an important part of who I am, one I've tried to manipulate in a variety of ways. And yes, I am thinking of vulnerability as a kind of transparency. Thank you.
your words are like raindrops on a parched earth. Returning and yearning to be in the depth of being. No striving just feeling inward and touching the depth and breath of who we are. Thank you.
For some reason my Substack account doesn’t often let me participate in the surveys, it’s a weird tech glitch.
I was trying respond that I would be interested in exploring uncertainty a little more deeply. This cornerstone of being conscious human can be a little unnerving at times!
Thank you for sharing about this glitch. It makes me wonder if others experience this, too. And thank you for coming to comments with your interest in exploring uncertainty. Noted, dear Friend. We will.
Renée, I have been completely enjoying your series here on poetry. I love "that we are the bees of the invisible." Cross pollinating the flowers, carrying the nectar, making honey from this sweet potpourri. There is an incredible force of nature happening behind the scenes. We are all apart of it, and it requires a shift from the mental/logical into the more sensual/beingness. Aligning with "being" this invisible impulse and heart beat of the moment and bringing it into word. An oracular event, then it is gone, ephemeral like being is. What is left behind are the crumbs, this gift we know of as words, poetry.
First, thank you for sharing that you enjoyed this series. More, this unseen force happening behind the scenes requiring in us a shift from mental/logical to sensual/beingness calls up in me immediately words you wrote this week regarding Beltaine and the Celtic way of recognizing that they were interwoven in the cloth of Earth.
You also offer something more to this series, which I will take into contemplation as I develop these pieces into a longer essay/chapter for a book, and so, I thank you. What you offer pertains to the ephemeral nature of the oracular and is apropos the recognition that I touched upon in the series, which is that human language becomes a living flesh in the world--unseen when oracular, but offering all the same, a new and manifold texture to the fabric of the world. You see the double entrendre with the biblical ". . . and the word was made flesh." I sense there is more to this phrase than we have taken it to mean.
You have articulated in your beautiful voice the divine encounter. Your voice vibrates with tone, timber and an ever so subtle twang that lends to and enlivens your written words. You encourage an inquiry into the depths, an invitation to return again to origination and genesis of becoming.
Thank you Renee for being a wayfarer of the soul. I sense the presence of Hermes here.
Megan, thank you, dear Friend. I smile with sweet delight at your words, namely, subtle twang. I'm so glad it hasn't completely disappeared in the melting pot.
Hermes – perhaps here for the human, and so, for all of life, at this time on Earth. . . .
Veronika, thank you. Jenna Newell Hiott recently told me about your work, saying I should get to know you. Seeing you here prompts me to spend some time with your words, as I have intended, but hadn't yet made it over to your stack. Will do. . . .
I picked up some interesting thoughts from your recent writings, which resonate with mine and might find their way as quotes into future chapters of my book on Synchronosophy (my 'other substack channel')
I came across Jean Gebser about 25 years ago, shortly after receiving inspiration for my own project (now called Synchronosophy) and was excited to find a kindred spirit. Needless to say, his 'structures of consciousness' are resonating with my work and are reflected in it.
I am not familiar with Bergson.
Yours sounds like an intriguing project too, and I look forward to reading more!
It's becoming more apparent every response why Jenna made the connection. It could be said that you were early to Gebser (!), whose work now, today, seems so prescient. I was introduced to him while doing my doctoral work but from the purview of an historical survey of the unfolding of consciousness. It was only after I finished my doctoral work that I returned to him and immersed. I will immerse this week in your work.
Bergson published Creative Evolution in 1911. A French philosopher who looks at the creative pull toward in the unfolding of Life, he brings us up to Gebser, in my opinion, i.e., unfolding structures of consciousness in the human, but we can see no less of consciousness at work in Bergson's unfolding of the inner impulse of Life.
I cannot underscore with enough emphasis how delighted I am to 'meet' you and look forward to further conversation.
Igualmente (as we say in Portugal) "the pleasure is mine"
Dear Renée, I am equally delighted ~ such encounters of spirit and mind are rare and precious...
You will find in my work, that I am writing explicitly 'non-academic', since my commitment is towards all '8 Faculties of Consciousness' in the creative process (it will soon become self-explanatory what I mean by that).
Over the past 25 years I have been seeking out original thinkers and writers in the field of 'consciousness' who are looking at this topic from the perspective of life and human experience, rather than through the lenses of scientific instruments in laboratories.
In the process I have 'met' people from all sorts of disciplines (a few of them barely known in English because their work was never translated ~ in this case from German). The inner impulse of Life you mention is indeed an important piece of the puzzle! I'll have to check out Bergson's work...
Very much looking forward to your thoughts and feedback to Synchronosophy.
If anything doesn't jell, in your understanding, please feel free to point out inconsistencies or anything else really. This is work in progress!
I can't get over "...from which no news returns." This line is breaking me open to the utter bittersweet, guiding towards the heartbreak of my day. As a poet, to succumb to the emptiness at the end of a dredging writing... now is too much to witness.
I feel... the loneliness that comes with the territory of being... that once the 'poetic form' has found itself from you... there is no answer to this end.
You and the poem must be resolute to exist for one another. The question, the answer, the continuing life afterwards...
(I'm too much alone, or notice the lonely life, of my own creation... as my constant witness and initiator to my life-worth-living , it's an ego-tionally draining life. Especially stuck in the mode of witness to others successful lives via socal media. In such a regurgitative social system... real words and real living is lost for some 'viral frequency' of what is 'pop' or - easy to produce...
I don't know where I'm going with this... to be succinct now...
"The loss of poetic living... replaced by viral seeking purpose...)
I do apologize for unleavening my self here... yet, isn't that just the way of poems?
Bless you Renée, for your constancy
Jacob,
You touch on some existential tensions here for the creative, and so, for living, regarding the contemporary push toward virality. These tensions, it would seem to me, are not birthed of the intrinsic creative fire (in us all) but of the desire for recognition, which is conditioned.
These tensions you illuminate find in me a question that you seem to answer:
You and the poem must be resolute to exist for one another. The question, the answer, the continuing life afterwards...
I find in your words common ground with words the mystics have shared of their devotion to their Beloved. Rumi comes to mind as mystic-poet, but others, too.
Rilke said in his Letters to a Young Poet:
"This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple 'I must', then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. . . ."
These words and yours seem mirrors of one another.
And every mystic has encountered no less a 'must'.
Thank you, as always, for sharing, Jacob.
With love,
Renée
What a gorgeous completion to this series! This is idea of being as the way (the path, the channel) that what wants to be created comes forth has woven itself into the fabric of me. I've been thinking about it constantly. It's become such a part of my Container of Presence that now I can't recall a time when it wasn't there. I can't thank you enough for this gift, dear friend. ❤️ And then to hear it in your voice! It's remarkable, truly.
Jenna,
In reading your reflection here, I have a sudden and more immediate understanding of the Container of Presence from your recent beautiful post. An Aha! Thank you for sharing this here
and for your presence. . . .
With love,
Renée
Resisting the impulse not to fill the gap and not to lose us, such an important place to return to over and over, so that what can come through comes through. An encouraging model for me. Thanks Renee.
Emily,
Thank you for commenting on this reflection in the letter. Over the past weeks, I have been listening to a series of talks given by James Finley regarding the mystic Meister Eckhart. I was struck with pause when I heard him say that in sharing, he (Finley) would endeavor to be as transparent as possible about what was happening in him and what was fleeting and what was absent when trying to convey Eckhart's message, saying that Eckhart himself planted the seed in him about this transparency . . . and so, when I came upon similar moments these weeks, I stayed . . . and then, I could pass this transparency on to you all.
The gaps are too numerous and at times too gaping to be filled. What if we let that be and acknowledge them . . . "so that what can come through comes through"?
With love,
Renée
Yes. I love “passing the transparency on.” What a wonderful action to take (allow?) and also to ponder.
" take (allow?) and also to ponder."
We are in rich soil here. Thank you, Emily.
I'm going to keep thinking about passing transparency on, as vulnerability is such an important part of who I am, one I've tried to manipulate in a variety of ways. And yes, I am thinking of vulnerability as a kind of transparency. Thank you.
Transparency does seem to be an outward expression of the inner landscape of vulnerability. A beautiful insight. 🙏
your words are like raindrops on a parched earth. Returning and yearning to be in the depth of being. No striving just feeling inward and touching the depth and breath of who we are. Thank you.
Erma,
Thank you.
(If I said more, I would cheapen those two words meeting your own. I believe this has happened before with a reflection from you.)
With love,
Renée
For some reason my Substack account doesn’t often let me participate in the surveys, it’s a weird tech glitch.
I was trying respond that I would be interested in exploring uncertainty a little more deeply. This cornerstone of being conscious human can be a little unnerving at times!
Donna,
Thank you for sharing about this glitch. It makes me wonder if others experience this, too. And thank you for coming to comments with your interest in exploring uncertainty. Noted, dear Friend. We will.
(uncertainty <<< * >>> unnerving)
With love,
Renée
Renée, I have been completely enjoying your series here on poetry. I love "that we are the bees of the invisible." Cross pollinating the flowers, carrying the nectar, making honey from this sweet potpourri. There is an incredible force of nature happening behind the scenes. We are all apart of it, and it requires a shift from the mental/logical into the more sensual/beingness. Aligning with "being" this invisible impulse and heart beat of the moment and bringing it into word. An oracular event, then it is gone, ephemeral like being is. What is left behind are the crumbs, this gift we know of as words, poetry.
Julie,
First, thank you for sharing that you enjoyed this series. More, this unseen force happening behind the scenes requiring in us a shift from mental/logical to sensual/beingness calls up in me immediately words you wrote this week regarding Beltaine and the Celtic way of recognizing that they were interwoven in the cloth of Earth.
You also offer something more to this series, which I will take into contemplation as I develop these pieces into a longer essay/chapter for a book, and so, I thank you. What you offer pertains to the ephemeral nature of the oracular and is apropos the recognition that I touched upon in the series, which is that human language becomes a living flesh in the world--unseen when oracular, but offering all the same, a new and manifold texture to the fabric of the world. You see the double entrendre with the biblical ". . . and the word was made flesh." I sense there is more to this phrase than we have taken it to mean.
Tremendous gratitude to you,
Renée
"and the word was made flesh." I sense there is more to this phrase than we have taken it to mean." I agree, my contemplation too.
Thank you for sharing, Julie. 🙏
You have articulated in your beautiful voice the divine encounter. Your voice vibrates with tone, timber and an ever so subtle twang that lends to and enlivens your written words. You encourage an inquiry into the depths, an invitation to return again to origination and genesis of becoming.
Thank you Renee for being a wayfarer of the soul. I sense the presence of Hermes here.
Megan, thank you, dear Friend. I smile with sweet delight at your words, namely, subtle twang. I'm so glad it hasn't completely disappeared in the melting pot.
Hermes – perhaps here for the human, and so, for all of life, at this time on Earth. . . .
Love to you,
Renée
What a beautiful, poietic letter! Thank you 💕🙏
Veronika, thank you. Jenna Newell Hiott recently told me about your work, saying I should get to know you. Seeing you here prompts me to spend some time with your words, as I have intended, but hadn't yet made it over to your stack. Will do. . . .
So delighted to connect with you. 💕🙏
Oh, thank you Jenna!
And delighted to meet you too, Renée!!
I picked up some interesting thoughts from your recent writings, which resonate with mine and might find their way as quotes into future chapters of my book on Synchronosophy (my 'other substack channel')
I'm guessing you are aware of Jean Gebser's work?
Veronika,
Thank you for sharing more. And Jenna, thank you for connecting us!
I look forward to reading Synchronosophy, Veronika. LOVE the title.
To your question, re: Gebser. In short, yes.
Longer: At present, I am drafting a book-length manuscript influenced and informed by Gebser and Henri Bergson.
That you ask tells me you are. Please share more as you're inclined. . . .
I came across Jean Gebser about 25 years ago, shortly after receiving inspiration for my own project (now called Synchronosophy) and was excited to find a kindred spirit. Needless to say, his 'structures of consciousness' are resonating with my work and are reflected in it.
I am not familiar with Bergson.
Yours sounds like an intriguing project too, and I look forward to reading more!
Veronika,
It's becoming more apparent every response why Jenna made the connection. It could be said that you were early to Gebser (!), whose work now, today, seems so prescient. I was introduced to him while doing my doctoral work but from the purview of an historical survey of the unfolding of consciousness. It was only after I finished my doctoral work that I returned to him and immersed. I will immerse this week in your work.
Bergson published Creative Evolution in 1911. A French philosopher who looks at the creative pull toward in the unfolding of Life, he brings us up to Gebser, in my opinion, i.e., unfolding structures of consciousness in the human, but we can see no less of consciousness at work in Bergson's unfolding of the inner impulse of Life.
I cannot underscore with enough emphasis how delighted I am to 'meet' you and look forward to further conversation.
With all manner of gratitude,
Renée
Igualmente (as we say in Portugal) "the pleasure is mine"
Dear Renée, I am equally delighted ~ such encounters of spirit and mind are rare and precious...
You will find in my work, that I am writing explicitly 'non-academic', since my commitment is towards all '8 Faculties of Consciousness' in the creative process (it will soon become self-explanatory what I mean by that).
Over the past 25 years I have been seeking out original thinkers and writers in the field of 'consciousness' who are looking at this topic from the perspective of life and human experience, rather than through the lenses of scientific instruments in laboratories.
In the process I have 'met' people from all sorts of disciplines (a few of them barely known in English because their work was never translated ~ in this case from German). The inner impulse of Life you mention is indeed an important piece of the puzzle! I'll have to check out Bergson's work...
Very much looking forward to your thoughts and feedback to Synchronosophy.
If anything doesn't jell, in your understanding, please feel free to point out inconsistencies or anything else really. This is work in progress!
deeply grateful for your interest in my work
Veronika