Thoughts about Tintern Abbey

A brief moment out of the darkness is so nice. The positive purity of Wordsworth's poem "Tintern Abbey" is like a cleansing drink of holy water rather than the burning awareness of dark epiphanies. After reading the poem a couple of times and reading some notes about it, I feel that "Tintern Abbey" is a concentrated focus on the innocence of youth and the beauty that is still linked to nature after the loss of innocence that comes with age. When I first started reading this poem a part of Eliot's quartets popped into my head that goes, "We had the experience but missed the meaning, and approach to the meaning restores the experience in a different form, beyond any meaning we can assign to happiness". I feel that this part of Eliot's poem is perfect for what Wordsworth was doing when he created "Tintern Abbey". A memory that shows both similarities as well as changes in one's character. In the beginning Wordsworth is telling us what he sees with his "old eyes"...

Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.

In his youth these cliffs could have symbolized something very different than seclusion. And using the words secluded scenes really relates to the feeling that people have as soon as they realize just how big the world is, and how insignificant they are. In this case though, I would stress that this feeling in relation to the cliffs is reflecting on the peace that comes with seclusion. Furthermore, he later writes exactly how nature possesses us and "with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things". Joy is referred to earlier on as a "sublime" and "blessed mood" which turns into a kind of nirvana, which we now know comes hand-in-hand with epiphanies.
Wordsworth then combines the notions of time into one moment of reflection, pleasurable presence, and hopeful a hopeful future saying,

"While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years...That time is past,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
And all its dizzy raptures".

This moment leads into a grand epiphany that could come only through personal experience (take that Eliot!) which emphasizes the loss of innocence and the gaining of knowledge.

"For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue. And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused"

It doesn't get much more epiphanic than that.

To the LIght House-a paradox between terror and beauty

Since we have been dealing with the "dark epiphany" so much, I selected one of the many E's in V.W's story that is, shall I say, a mortal one. It begins on page 15 when Mrs. Ramsay is sitting in the window listening to all the sounds surrounding her when SUDDENLY she no longer hears her children gabbing or her husband chatting, and (again)--
"SUDDENLY and unexpectedly, especially when her mind raised itself slightly from the task actually in hand, had no such kindly meaning, but like a ghostly roll of drums remorselessly beat the measure of life, made one think of destruction of the island...that it was all ephemeral as a rainbow--this sound which had been obscured and concealed under the other sounds SUDDENLY thundered hollow in her ears and made her look up with an impulse of terror" (16).
     Suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, it all stopped and only the sound of our mortality was left to beat like an echo that will eventually fade away. Mrs. Ramsay momentarally became aware of life that exists in another plane of "real time". Her epiphanic moment of mortality is in fact pointing to the mortal's diseas, which is "awareness". Here and now Mrs. Ramsay is feeling the "finite pulses" that exist within the terror of living in the moment with a inevitable future of death. As Kevin showed us in his blog and told us today, "we are DOOMED TO ENJOY dark epiphanies". However, there is a brief recognition of beauty amongst all this negativity.
     The rainbow, which stands out like a beacon of light (maybe a lighthouse). Mrs. Ramsay slips this fleeting image of peace and calm that comes after a storm and in (in this case) the middle of a storm, which is quite paradoxical...Maybe the rainbow is in the middle because the real terror is still yet to come? I keep thinking of hurricane Katrina and the power, awe and terror it caused. It must have been a moment without words, only fear and awe, and then after it was all done there was the realization of the terror that just occured. But I also bet that there were some rainbows afterwards (lol). I guess my point is that even in the darkest of moments, if we could be the "one whom nothing is lost" we might see these connections between terror and beauty all within the same moment. If we can do that, then we all could be "Aesthetic Heroes" of our time.

Walter Pator does Mona Lisa producing epiphany

Thus far I have not been able to find what I am looking for concerning Walter Pater and epiphanic realizations. I did however find some readings about his critique of the Renaissance painting of Mona Lisa that sheds some light on how he perceived notions of "Awe" within the famous painting:

"She is older than the rocks among which she sits; like the vampire, SHE HAS BEEN DEAD MANY TIMES, and learned the secrets of the grave; and has been a diver in deep seas, and keeps their fallen day about her; and trafficked for strange webs with Eastern merchants; and, as Leda, was the mother of Helen of Troy, and, as Saint Anne, the mother of Mary; and all this has been to her but as the sound of lyres and flutes, and lives only in the delicacy with which it has moulded the changing lineaments, and tinged the eyelids and the hands. THE FANCY OF A PERPETUAL LIFE, SWEEPING TOGETHER TEN THOUSAND EXPERIENCES, is an old one; and modern philosophy has conceived the idea of humanity as wrought upon by, and summing up in itself, all modes of thought and life. Certainly Lady Lisa might stand as the embodiment of the old fancy, the symbol of the modern idea".

In this paragraph, Pater uses words that further produce a feeling of mysticism in the painting of a long since dead woman, which rework what I think is a boring painting into a much more significant symbol of perfection. When he says that "she has been dead many times" I understood that this painting has been created and re-created many times thus allowing Lady Lisa to be reborn in our minds as an icon of perfection or (for some) maybe a rather insignificant portrait of a rather odd looking woman. What I understand though, is that this painting is majestic because people have maintained a steady stream of re-invention that now has a undertone of immortality. This is in fact a perfect representation of how an epic epiphany should haunt those afflicted by its indescribable power, as Walter was. I believe that Pater actually makes this painting much more epiphanic than it originally was with his description. He is able to imprint a deeper sense of the mysticism by pointing out that the Mona Lisa is "the fancy of perpetual life, sweeping together ten thousand experiences", which is once again demonstrating the everlasting quality of the painting itself, except this time it is directly playing on the audience's awareness of their own "experiences" and feelings toward the painting itself. If you were to go to the place where the Mona Lisa is currently on display, the energy in the room might equal that of an epiphanic moment because everyone would be eye-goggling this strange wonder together adding to the atmosphere of Awe within the room. If Walter Pater were present at such a moment I think he would blurt out, "How shall we pass most swiftly from point to point, and be present always at the focus where the greatest number of vital forces unite in their purest energy? To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life". "Pure energy" would equal that of the atmosphere in the room and the "gem-like" flame would be what everyone would be afflicted with when they leave. Truly this would be a wonderful moment of ecstasy!

Cherish the innocent, be mindful of despair, and forever maintain hope

I was trying to understand why cycles are a part of the Four Quartets with the feeling that cycles are only illusions, and there can only be a path forward continuing on into infinity. I was wrong. The notion of a cycle in life is helpful to understand concepts of Dejavu or recurring emotions. We assume too often that people are here on earth to achieve the "meaning of life" and understanding what we experience. However, group 4 demonstrated today that understanding is not what we are here to do, instead we should be concerned less with capturing the meaning of something and more focused on achieving an AWARENESS of life and death. In other words, one might suggest that people are being conscious of what feels similar and different until both the notions of "same" and "different" can be handled with one focused and conscious action/reaction. Interestingly, in Aikido the students are repeating the same motions over and over again until there is no more thought needed than a direct action towards the "right choice". This is similar to how we respond to daily life, where we are constantly being tested and re-tested with multitudes of interactions and experiences and are honing our ability to choose the proper action and fare forward. The actions then, contain a kind of habitual manner of handling situations without having to do much thinking. The forming of such habits though, must not be the real objective, but instead one should be trying to be aware of their habits and always re-inventing those repetitive actions to fit into new or even similar situations. For instance if you come across a large hole in the ground there are many ways in which you can get across: run and jump over it, build something over it, walk around it and so on and so forth. Each time you try something to solve the puzzle you can gain an awareness that you were not previously aware of. This simple metaphor for life is meant to merely open your eyes for future trials in which one can continue to create new means of working with and not against obstructions. If we are lucky though, we will meet older generations who will enlighten us about the many paths of adaptation and awareness without us having to personally fall down or step into the fog that is soon to become the present.

Nabokov was terrified by sleep because it meant giving up one's consciousness and existing in a subconscious dream-like "reality". If we were to interpret death like sleep and life as being awake then there would be no "life" after death, but because both life and death are part of the layered spiral we will in fact experience them multiple times; always moving forward with new awareness. Maintaining consciousness is in fact more of a way to fight against the unknown, and therefore should be re-evaluated. What is more important is how we as living human beings can patiently await what is to come (which is death)in a way that is both thoughtful and positive. Despair is everywhere, and hope is our salvation. We will approach life again not in the same exact way, but with a new awareness and a heavy heart. Cherish the innocent, be mindful of the despair, and forever maintain hope.

Ukiyo=floating world

The word "ukiyo" is a Japanese word that I think effectively illustrates what T.S. Elliot is exploring in the Four Quartets. Ukiyo means "floating world" and is used in reference to fleeting aesthetics, death, and time/spacial relations. As we have learned thus far in class, Eliot is working with complex notions of living life and experiencing all it has to offer. His words often times are confusing and contradictory and present a paradoxical display of "eye-opener" thoughts. But that is the way of the world, an "ukiyo-world". People are suspended in a moment of time that feels as if it has a purpose or a place to go, but in a broad perspective our time is not much more than blip. In this class we are learning to heighten our awareness of pretty much everything, and interestingly enough what is happening to me is that I feel as if time is slowing down. If I can notice the little changes and concentrate on each days events, I begin to understand time as only a series of events. There is no need to have my day exactly scheduled. It is very strange to me that people would want to have such order and structure to their lives that they might have only 5 minute poop-breaks or can only eat at this and this time. If we destroyed clocked time would we be happier? Would we be as motivated? I would like to think so, but then again having everyone in tune with each other is kinda cool too. Time works within the notion of Ukiyo to secure the past, present, and future all into individual moments of existence. Modern-time makes us pay attention to each moment as if that moment was all that mattered, but doesn't allow us to dottle away in the moment because we have a rigid system that slaps us in the face when we forget to look at our clocks. The beauty of a term like "Ukiyo" is how time is kept as a persistant thought, but floating right now in the suspended moment of emotion lasts as long as it can and that is all that matters. If Eliot knew about this term, I am sure he would have played with it in his poem.

I am the God of Bones

Listen up son! I am the God of Bones, your bones that is. I am here to ask you if you can hear the soundless wailing? The wailing of your bones. We are all floating down the Styx River to our death. Why fear me? Cause I am death? Maybe so, but I am here to tell you that the end is near and not to fear. If I could condemn your souls I would, but I am only the God of Bones and your journey will go on...must go on. I thought I was the only one with the Soothsayer power, admittedly though, I am not. You are your own fortune teller. You know your future (death) you know your past, and you live in the present. Even though you walk the path of the living dead, you are special. Generations have given you their wisdom. Don't let it pass you by. Pay attention to your experiences and notice their connection and relevance to now. We all feel sadness, joy, hate, greed, and vanity. None-the-less, we live through them all and emerge as a whole entity of life and understanding. You have witnessed history both first and second hand, and though the passing of time is often referred to as "evolution", you know better. Evolution is only a superficial step to understanding what is and hypothetical notions of current existence; but existence is the now and you are the now. "There is no better time than now for shit to happen" (Charismatic Kari). A wise man named Tautological Tai once said, "Tequila turns man into wisdomless animals", and that is the Truth of today. Do not let this happen to you. Fare forward, not fare well, for death is what you know awaits. Look over your shoulder for assistance and remember the terror, but never fear, for "death is only a majestic meditation" (Doug). We are hear to learn. That is all.

Falling through the universe

After reading "my" brief essay about "The Dead" in the book that Dr. Sexson loaned out to me I am proud to say that our class is very badass. While the professional Loomis decifered very important aspects of the story, we found and highlighted many more important "daimonds" than he did and without too much repitition as well; however, I would like to take a moment to include just one more thought from Loomis's essay that will bring together much of what we are talking about into one symbolic image: The Snowflake. Dr. Sexson mentioned in class the notion of a wheel(or a "whirlpool" as C.C. Loomis puts it) and how all the spokes lead to one central point. To our benefit an upside-down Freudian iceberg was illustrated to show us the progression to epiphanies. Cleverly enough, Joyce decided to stay away from such presumptuous psycoanalytic babble and use a beautiful snowflake instead. As you can see the snowflake is close to that of a wheel with spokes and a point of still-connection, and is arguably the prettiest aesthetic symbol in the entire story. As such, the snowflake had many symbolic functions one of which has to do with creation. In order for a snowflake to form, lots of water molecules must be frozen together. Being frozen in "Ah" is one way in which we described the experience of an epiphanic moment. Also, many thoughts and emotions must come together to create our frozen moment, thus we have the molecules of the snowflake. Next, there is the idea that of Eliot's description of "faring forward, not farewell". Gabrial is not faring well in his precarious evening of egotism, but he is faring forward (I will explain further on Friday about this particular thought). Most importantly though, is the concept of impermance that resonates with a snowflake. So much can be experienced so quickly and just as soon as we have our epiphany... it has faded into the background. Just like a snowflake blows away or explodes on our windshields leaving only dripping water, the beauty itself is gone. What's more is the connection between the snowflake and Gretta's emotions are both fleeting moments in time, and yet, both are able to cause such dramatic changes in Gabrial (and through Gabrial on to the reader). Loomis points out the grand relationship that both man and snowflake share, which is: a "vision [that] progressess toward the ultimate image of the snow falling through the universe".