{"id":1617,"date":"2014-09-04T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1617"},"modified":"2014-09-04T10:03:36","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T15:03:36","slug":"poem-a-full-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/04\/poem-a-full-life\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: A Full Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlie’s life was full<\/strong>
\nEvery available space laden to wrest<\/strong>
\nHis productivity well suited<\/strong>
\nTo his interests<\/strong>
\nTaxidermy and robotics<\/strong><\/p>\n

This short poem offers a challenge to what it means to have a full life in modern Western civilization, where increasing speed and productivity are worshiped as the means to a good life.\u00a0 I am a big fan of rest and empty spaces as an essential way to fully round out one’s life.\u00a0 Our culture’s addiction to productivity, fitting in (“well suited”), and a focus on narrow interests has most of us bamboozled.\u00a0 In this poem, the inane and the productive meet in the metaphor of taxidermy and robotics, representing the deadening and dehumanizing effects of an overfull life.\u00a0 This metaphor also juxtaposes vocation and avocation, where it is unclear what is a job and what is a hobby.\u00a0 While this may be confusing, it hints at the underlying connection that a capitalistic culture makes.\u00a0 Capitalism works best when we devote ourselves to both work\/productivity AND inane consumerism.\u00a0 Capitalism wants to own both vocation and avocation.\u00a0 Of course, an endless array of inane avocations are offered, as long as they support the consumption of some product or service, hopefully in the service of distracting you from the emptiness of your “full” life and the avaricious nature of endless “growth.”<\/p>\n

Emptiness can be revolutionary.\u00a0 This is why capitalism works best when it crams every available space with inane crap.\u00a0 Capitalism’s very life depends on it.\u00a0 Surely, capitalism must provide abundant avenues to distract us from our emptiness.\u00a0 However, emptiness is not empty!\u00a0 If we sit with our emptiness, in the sense of lack of fulfillment, this will foment unrest poorly suited for capitalism.\u00a0 Even further, in experiencing empty spaces and silence, we expand our perspective, the framework upon which we see things, allowing us to truly grow.\u00a0 Buddhists and Taoists are particularly adept at exploring such realities.\u00a0 Deists might frame this as silence being the language of God, that small, still voice.<\/p>\n

After experiencing a period of relaxation, have you ever then experienced increased anxiety or dread when “going back to work” appears on the horizon?\u00a0 In a life abundant in balance and wisdom, while work requires effort, it does not require dread.\u00a0 Dread is a sign of imbalance.\u00a0 Chronic dread signifies a shortage of wisdom.\u00a0 Dread speaks to us.\u00a0 One of the central concepts (the first of the Four Noble Truths) of Buddhism<\/a> is often stated in English as “Life is suffering.”\u00a0 I have heard this elaborated upon as realizing that life requires effort (work).\u00a0 Work is not the enemy.\u00a0 Work is an integral part of life — as is rest .\u00a0 The issue becomes how to achieve balance and minimize suffering.\u00a0 I like the image of breathing in and out as a metaphor for balance.\u00a0 Questioning whether breathing in or out is better misses the point — as is often the case in Western convergent thinking.\u00a0 If you do ask which is better, the only sensible response is “what did you do last?”\u00a0 If work causes anxiety, then rest.\u00a0 If rest causes anxiety, then work.\u00a0 If everything causes you anxiety, then look to emptiness.\u00a0 Of course, emptiness often looks like rest, but there is good work to be done there…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlie’s life was full Every available space laden to wrest His productivity well suited To his interests Taxidermy and robotics This short poem offers a challenge to what it means to have a full life in modern Western civilization, where … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[405,623,400,358,554,87,171,170,516,88,428,65,388,579,313,493,220,359,548,379,354,526,68,185,239,131,340,320,511,85,389,380],"class_list":["post-1617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-addiction","tag-anxiety","tag-balance","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist","tag-capitalism","tag-consumerism","tag-consumption","tag-culture","tag-dehumanizing","tag-experience","tag-god","tag-hope","tag-image","tag-inane","tag-job","tag-labor","tag-life","tag-modern","tag-nature","tag-perspective","tag-productivity","tag-questioning","tag-revolution","tag-revolutionary","tag-silence","tag-suffering","tag-tao","tag-vocation","tag-western-civilization","tag-wisdom","tag-work"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: A Full Life | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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