The philosopher's ideals.......

1. Only Fool! Only Poet!



In the fading light of dusk,

When the dew’s solace begins

To well down to the earth,

Invisible, as well as unheard —

For the comforter dew slips on

Delicate footwear as all gentle consolers —

Then do you remember, hot heart, remember

How once you thirsted

After heavenly tears and dewdrops,

Scorched and weary, thirsting

While on yellow paths of grass

The spiteful evening glances of the sun

Ran around you through black trees,

Glowing sun-glances, dazzling with malicious delight.



“The suitor of truth—you?"—thus they mocked me —

"No! Only a poet!

A cunning, plundering, stealthy beast,

That must lie,

That knowingly, willingly must lie,

Lusting after prey,

Colorfully masked,

Self-shrouded,

Prey for itself

This—the suitor of truth? ...

Only fool! Only poet!

Merely speaking colorfully,

From fools’ masks shouting colorfully,

Climbing about on deceptive word-bridges,

On misleading rainbows,

Between false heavens

Rambling, lurking —

Only fool! Only poet!



This—the suitor of truth? ...



Not still, stiff, smooth, cold,

Become an image,

A pillar of God,

Not set up before temples,

A god’s gatekeeper:

No! hostile to all such truth statues,

More at home in any desert than in temples,

Fraught with cats’ mischief,

Leaping through every window

Swiftly! into every chance,

Sniffing for every jungle,

That you in jungles

Among motley-shagged beasts of prey

Would run sinfully sound and beautiful and colorful,

With lusting animal lips,

Blissfully sneering, blissfully hellish, blissfully bloodthirsty,

Plundering, prowling, lying would run ...



Or like the eagle that, for a long time,

A long time gazes with a fixed stare into abysses,

Into its abysses ...

— Oh how they spiral downward,

Down, down under,

Into ever deeper depths! —

Then,

Suddenly,

Plummeting straight down

Wings pulled out

To pounce on lambs,

Right down, hot-hungry,

Lusting for lambs,

Hating all lamb-souls,

Grimly hating whatever looks

Virtuous, sheepish, curly-wooled,

Dull, with lambs’ milk-goodwill ...



Thus,

Eagle-like, panther-like,

Are the poet’s longings,

Are your longings under a thousand masks,

You fool! You poet!...



You that have looked upon man

As god and as sheep —

Tearing to pieces the god in man

As well as the sheep in man,

And laughing while tearing —



This, this is your bliss,

A panther’s and eagle’s bliss,

A poet’s and fool’s bliss!” ...



In the fading light of dusk,

When just as the moon’s sickle

In between green and crimson-reds

Enviously creeps —

The day’s enemy,

With every stealthy step

At rose hammocks

Scything, till they sink,

Sink down pale in nightfall:



Thus I myself once sank,

Out of my truth-madness,

Out of my day-longings,

Weary of day, sick from the light —

Sank downward, eveningward, shadowward,

By one truth

Burnt and thirsty —

Do you still remember, hot heart, remember

How you thirsted then? —

That I be exiled

From all truth!

Only fool!

Only poet!...


2. Is Divinity all philosophy and no logic?


(This doesn't just apply to the Abrahamic "God", but all forms of God, whether it be "Universal Power", "Universal Life Force", "Universal Mother Goddess" - whatever. I shall be using "Christian God" only for the sake of convenience)

That which Christians call "God" must logically be one of the following two things:

1. The Totality, the sum total of the All, the Infinity of Existence, the totality of Nature.

or

2. Something less than the Totality.

There is logically no third alternative. It is one or the other. It is not possible to be more than the Totality, because the Totality, by definition, includes everything.

Now, the God that is identical with the Totality of all things may possibly be believed by some pantheists, but would not be believed in by many who would call themselves Christian. So, the God whose possible existence we need to examine is the second of the two alternatives - i.e., a God who is something less than the Totality.

Now is it possible for a "God" who is less than the Totality to be everything that Christians conceive him to be?

Christians conceive their God to be all-powerful - "omnipotent" - and all-knowing - "omniscient". And Christians consider their God to be the creator of all things.

So is it possible for a being who is something less than the Totality of all things to be the creator of all things and have power over all things? No. It is not logically possible. A limited being cannot reach everything (by definition).

Is it possible for a being who is something less than the Totality of all things to be everywhere at once and to know all details about all things? No. It is not logically possible. A limited being cannot reach everything.

Thus the God of the common Christian is a logical impossibility and can never be more than a figment of the imagination. And just as a dream can be experienced, while having no logical coherence, and no reality beyond the imagination - so can the Christian experience his God.

Possible objections:

The God I believe in is not literally all powerful, He is merely powerful enough to do all that He chooses to do. That is, if he doesn't know everything, it is because he chooses not to.

Response: This does not escape the fact mentioned above, that a being who is less than the totality cannot possibly create all things, and have power over all things, as a limited being cannot reach everything. The God you believe in could not know everything about all things, even if he wanted to.



(AHM: Sent in by Rudraksh. Both the articles have been clubbed together for our convenience.Please note that here on AHM we don't promote blasphemy....neither do we want to hurt the religious feelings of people.But the last article has been published merely as a logical and philosophical discourse on divinity and more importantly as a piece of true art.We don't necessarily share certain particular religious, social or political views of the writers who contribute to this blog and remain a sincerely unbiased forum.We do believe in making the 'pent up voices of JUDE' reach your ears and hence stand for true artistic freedom.)