Out of the rolling ocean the crowd
by Walt Whitman
Out of the rolling ocean the crowd came a drop gently
to me,
Whispering, I love you, before long I die,
I have travell'd a long way merely to look on you to
touch you,
For I could not die till I once look'd on you,
For I fear'd I might afterward lose you.
Now we have met, we have look'd, we are safe,
Return in peace to the ocean my love,
I too am much of that ocean, my love, we are not so
much separated,
Behold the great rondure, the cohesion of all, how
perfect!
But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate
us,
As for an hour carrying us diverse, yet cannot carry us
diverse forever;
Be not impatient — a little space — know you I salute
the air, the ocean and the land,
Every day at sundown for your dear sake, my love.
"Out of the rolling ocean the crowd" by Walt Whitman. Public domain.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Being in Love
Being in Love
by Chungmi Kim
Awakened from a dream, I curl up
and turn. The roses on the dresser
smile and your words bloom.
The red roses for Valentine's Day.
Like in a film
thoughts of you unfold
moment by moment.
I vaguely hear
the sound of your spoon scooping cereal
the water stream in the shower
the buzzing noise of your electric razor
like a singing of cicada.
Your footsteps in and out of the bedroom.
Your lips touching my cheek lightly.
And the sound of the door shutting.
In your light
I fall asleep again under the warm quilt
happily like a child.
Upon wakingon the kitchen counter I find a half
grapefruit carefully cut and sectioned.
Such a loving touch is a milestone
For my newly found happiness.
"Being in Love" by Chungmi Kim, from Glacier Lily. © Red Hen Press, 2004.
by Chungmi Kim
Awakened from a dream, I curl up
and turn. The roses on the dresser
smile and your words bloom.
The red roses for Valentine's Day.
Like in a film
thoughts of you unfold
moment by moment.
I vaguely hear
the sound of your spoon scooping cereal
the water stream in the shower
the buzzing noise of your electric razor
like a singing of cicada.
Your footsteps in and out of the bedroom.
Your lips touching my cheek lightly.
And the sound of the door shutting.
In your light
I fall asleep again under the warm quilt
happily like a child.
Upon wakingon the kitchen counter I find a half
grapefruit carefully cut and sectioned.
Such a loving touch is a milestone
For my newly found happiness.
"Being in Love" by Chungmi Kim, from Glacier Lily. © Red Hen Press, 2004.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
William James-interesting fellow
It's the birthday (January 11th) of the man who coined the term "stream of consciousness" and who said that "the art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook" — psychologist and philosopher William James (books by this author) (1842), born in New York City to one of the most prominent intellectual families in the history of America. His brother was writer Henry James, his sister was diarist Alice James, his dad was a famous theologian, and his godfather was Ralph Waldo Emerson.
He was tone-deaf, got motion sickness easily, suffered from depression and was suicidal for long intervals, had chronic back pain, recurring digestive ailments, and problems with vision. He told people he had "soul-sickness."
He got an M.D. at Harvard but never practiced medicine; instead, he spent his life in academia at Harvard. There he taught physiology, then anatomy, and then, for many years, psychology and philosophy. Over the years, he lectured to many future famous Americans, including Teddy Roosevelt, W.E.B. DuBois, and Gertrude Stein, a favorite of his. On an in-class exam he gave, Gertrude wrote, "Dear Professor James, I am so sorry but I do not feel a bit like writing an examination paper on philosophy today." He wrote back, "Dear Miss Stein, I understand perfectly. I often feel like that myself."
He was an enormously prolific writer. Scholar John McDermott put together a bibliography of William James' writings that was 47 pages long. His most well-known work is probably the 1,200-page Principles of Psychology, published in 1890 after more than a decade of research and writing.
While working on the book, he did first-person research on the psychology of mystical experience, and to aid in this he sometimes used narcotics. He said that he could only really understand the German idealist philosopher Hegel when he was under the influence of laughing gas.He wrote a lot about the psychology of pragmatism. He argued that a person's beliefs were true if they were useful to that person. And he said, "Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact."He also wrote: "Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing."He hung out with Freud, Jung, Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell, and many other intellectuals.
He once said, "Wherever you are, it is your own friends who make your world." And he said, "Properly speaking a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him."
He was tone-deaf, got motion sickness easily, suffered from depression and was suicidal for long intervals, had chronic back pain, recurring digestive ailments, and problems with vision. He told people he had "soul-sickness."
He got an M.D. at Harvard but never practiced medicine; instead, he spent his life in academia at Harvard. There he taught physiology, then anatomy, and then, for many years, psychology and philosophy. Over the years, he lectured to many future famous Americans, including Teddy Roosevelt, W.E.B. DuBois, and Gertrude Stein, a favorite of his. On an in-class exam he gave, Gertrude wrote, "Dear Professor James, I am so sorry but I do not feel a bit like writing an examination paper on philosophy today." He wrote back, "Dear Miss Stein, I understand perfectly. I often feel like that myself."
He was an enormously prolific writer. Scholar John McDermott put together a bibliography of William James' writings that was 47 pages long. His most well-known work is probably the 1,200-page Principles of Psychology, published in 1890 after more than a decade of research and writing.
While working on the book, he did first-person research on the psychology of mystical experience, and to aid in this he sometimes used narcotics. He said that he could only really understand the German idealist philosopher Hegel when he was under the influence of laughing gas.He wrote a lot about the psychology of pragmatism. He argued that a person's beliefs were true if they were useful to that person. And he said, "Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact."He also wrote: "Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing."He hung out with Freud, Jung, Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell, and many other intellectuals.
He once said, "Wherever you are, it is your own friends who make your world." And he said, "Properly speaking a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him."
Richard Baxter: The Cure of Melancholy
"Certainty of our faith and sincerity is not necessary to salvation, but the sincerity of faith itself is necessary. He shall be saved that giveth up himself to Christ, though he know not that he is sincere in doing it. Christ knoweth his own grace, when they that have it know not that it is sound.
An abundance are cast down by ignorance of themselves, not knowing the sincerity which God hath given them. Grace is weak in the best of us here; and little and weak grace is not very easily perceived, for it acteth weakly and unconstantly, and it is known but by its acts; and weak grace is always joined with too strong corruption; and all sin in heart and life is contrary to grace, and doth obscure it...And how can any under all these hindrances, yet keep any full assurance of their own sincerity?"
Richard Baxter, "The Cure of Melancholy"
An abundance are cast down by ignorance of themselves, not knowing the sincerity which God hath given them. Grace is weak in the best of us here; and little and weak grace is not very easily perceived, for it acteth weakly and unconstantly, and it is known but by its acts; and weak grace is always joined with too strong corruption; and all sin in heart and life is contrary to grace, and doth obscure it...And how can any under all these hindrances, yet keep any full assurance of their own sincerity?"
Richard Baxter, "The Cure of Melancholy"
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