Litkicks Message Board Archive

the thesis of theseus, maze-maddened bullbait.

words weigh us heavily
in the construction
of an argument;
we pile object upon object,
clay tablets studded
with cuneiform stars,
"dully blazing constellations"
in a vastness of space
curved by time
into the present breaking
moment of a wave
washing its hands
on reality's rocky shore.

as a structure, an argument
can only (at best)
bear its own load;
we shouldn't deceive
ourselves into believing
that our architecture
could be a pillar
of the heavens,
when even the noblest
cathedral is nothing more
than the temporary
encapsulization
of limited space.

-----

arguments are fashioned
in the immediate need
posed by a question;
all such questions
can be summarized
in the following:

"what IS the world,
and hence the world's truth,
and our own?"

therefore an argument would
demonstrate how the world IS,
offering itself as an example.

------

a thesis is nothing more
than a self-conscious
argument, masking itself
in the voodoo vestments
of "academic objectivity",
whereby (using the oldest
trick in the magician's
handbook: misdirection,)
the author claims
to present the world
(his voodoo idol)
through the rituals
of science;
tricking his audience
into believing that
he is NOT the source
of any divine commandment
he might unload,
but rather
a chaste medium
of genius.

-------

in describing the world
to make it certain
in a certain way,
an argument will rely
first upon memory,
the foundation
of any structure
we would elaborate
in the ongoing
experience
of reason and
sensation.

our intelligence
is at once
cumulative and global,
precisely because it is transmitted
through a medium of memories
actively linked together
by creative association,
which can be simultaneously
analytical, sensory, and emotive
in character.

what we call intelligence
is the active experience
of memory's creative-association
with the world, including
that small corner of the world
we designate as "ourselves".

------

when the mind has come to regard
the great metaphysical projects
of philosophy and theology
as being little more than a House of Cards,
vainly claiming
an architectural certainty
about the Universe
in their own fragile construction,
the elements of which inevitably
disassociate themselves from each other,
even as our own memories are gradually
removed from direct referrence
to an existing actuality--

then, tiring of this futile game,
the spirit dedicates itself
to actively encountering
the world THROUGH its elements,
constantly renewing the
creative-associations
that are nearer to Life itself.

-------

AND THAT BEING DONE,
WHAT WILL YOU WRITE
INSTEAD?

I will write poetry
to show how far
the spirit can move
for the good
of the living.

------

BUT ISN'T THAT A FORM
OF ARGUMENT ALSO?

perhaps. but I will only
build ports of departure.