tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post793293989153999558..comments2024-03-29T06:02:33.720-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: Did Our Best Moment last —Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-34861399853408183122023-12-02T11:02:44.331-08:002023-12-02T11:02:44.331-08:00Such moments happen once in a lifetime, if we'...Such moments happen once in a lifetime, if we're lucky, several times, if we're really lucky. Searching for them is fruitless, self-defeating, as ED says:<br /><br /> “And still within a summer's night<br />A something so transporting bright<br />I clap my hands to see—<br /><br />“Then veil my too inspecting face<br />Lest such a subtle—shimmering grace<br />Flutter too far for me —"<br /><br />‘A something in a Summer's Day’ (F104)<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-91245373721240744952023-12-02T10:48:13.500-08:002023-12-02T10:48:13.500-08:00C'est moi.C'est moi.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-15455673893807377382023-12-02T10:45:41.510-08:002023-12-02T10:45:41.510-08:00Many have described such mystical experiences. No ...Many have described such mystical experiences. No matter we are low or high, these moments give us faith that “Life is Good”. ED calls them “Our Best Moment”: <br /><br />“A Grant of the Divine —<br />That Certain as it Comes —<br />Withdraws — and leaves the dazzled Soul<br />In her unfurnished Rooms –” <br /><br /><br />Sig Olson (1961) calls them “The Singing Wilderness”:<br /><br />“The singing wilderness has to do with the calling of the loons, northern lights, and the great silences of a land lying northwest of Lake Superior. . . . I have heard the singing in many places, but I seem to hear it best in the wilderness . . .”<br /><br />“I have heard it on misty migration nights when the dark has been alive with the high calling of birds, and in rapids when the air has been full of their rushing thunder. I have caught it at dawn when the mists were moving out of the bays, and on cold winter nights when the stars seemed close enough to touch. But the music can even be heard in the soft guttering of an open fire or in the beat of rain on a tent, and sometimes not until long afterward when, like an echo out of the past, you know it was there in some quiet place or when you were doing some simple thing in the out-of-doors.”<br /><br />Olson, S., 1961, ‘The Singing Wilderness’, pp. 5-7<br /><br /><br />St Paul (Saul) described his “Moment” on the road to Damascus:<br /><br />"3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:<br /><br />4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?<br /><br />5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest . . . . <br /><br />6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-40987157861390425982022-12-14T21:05:58.431-08:002022-12-14T21:05:58.431-08:00Is there any chance that Emily did some experiment...Is there any chance that Emily did some experimentation with opium, cocaine, or other drugs?Carol Parnellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-72633167609402458232019-09-06T18:02:55.736-07:002019-09-06T18:02:55.736-07:00That's a very interesting approach. I've b...That's a very interesting approach. I've been taking it more and more myself -- and wishing I could go back and re-write a lot of my write-ups. But my journey started at poem 1 and I've been learning more and more -- and getting older and older -- as I go.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-21665261411235234502019-09-06T11:31:30.380-07:002019-09-06T11:31:30.380-07:00From the Catholic perspective here - the last two ...From the Catholic perspective here - the last two lines of the poem follow exactly what God asks us to do. Sacrifice ourselves on the altar, die to ourselves, be an empty vessel, so that we may than be poured full of Holy Spirit.<br /><br />Before her encounters with the Divine, her rooms may or may not have been furnished. But the encounters change her, wipe her slate clean except for the bedazzling and for knowing God.<br /><br />I've been recently exploring Dickinson's poetry to follow her language of spiritual consolations and desolations.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-31108317445480542212015-06-01T07:57:32.565-07:002015-06-01T07:57:32.565-07:00I can read it that way, too, now that you mention ...I can read it that way, too, now that you mention it. In fact, I prefer your take.<br />The poetry-reading voice in my head has a lot of influence in the tone I pick up in a poem. Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-28353915433124539272015-06-01T05:19:24.831-07:002015-06-01T05:19:24.831-07:00I don't read bitterness in this poem, wisdom, ...I don't read bitterness in this poem, wisdom, certainly, expressed from personal experience and poetic eloquence, but more matter of fact, like a scientist describing a studied phenomenon. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-2372779985292137172014-09-09T10:00:55.737-07:002014-09-09T10:00:55.737-07:00Excellent essay! The drug reference is interesti... Excellent essay! The drug reference is interesting in the context of a poem that speaks of divine inspiration. ED was about 13 years old when Marx published his Critique of Hegel's Philosopy of Right (1843) calling religion the "opium of the people". But here, the metaphor of addiction is in the context of an intensely personal experience and not a critique of society or religion.<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com