{"id":2213,"date":"2016-04-15T17:07:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T22:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=2213"},"modified":"2016-04-15T17:07:43","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T22:07:43","slug":"poem-truth-foul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/15\/poem-truth-foul\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: A Truth Foul"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you should believe<\/strong>
\nThe hole truth<\/strong>
\nAnd nothing<\/strong>
\nA butt the truth<\/strong>
\nYou may well be<\/strong>
\nFull if it<\/strong>
\nPerfectly primed<\/strong>
\nFor letting go<\/strong>
\nUnable to be taken<\/strong>
\nAny more<\/strong>
\nBy a singular won<\/strong>
\nGiven<\/strong>
\nBy an other<\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem, like many of my poems, can be understood (or misunderstood) many ways.\u00a0 Mostly, this is a poem about both hubris and hope.\u00a0 If we are so full of ourselves in our ability to ascertain the truth and we are skeptical enough to find believing nothing as a dominant mode, then we may very well dangerous to others seeking truth.\u00a0 Hubris is the blinding arrogance of our own experience of truth as the dominant mode.\u00a0 This is typically matched by a substantial discounting of others’ experience of truth.\u00a0 Hubris is cynicism producing and the enemy of hope.\u00a0 Hope is able to blossom when our perspective is genuinely open to others’ experiences and whatever current ideology we hold is alive enough to grow in the light of the living truth in other living beings.\u00a0 This is typically paired with a humble attitude toward our own limited body of experiences.\u00a0 I see true humility as a right-sizing of our place and role in the world (and universe).\u00a0 True humility, as most commonly viewed, is not being too big or oversized.\u00a0 Of course, true humility is also served by us rising up to\u00a0whatever responsibility matches our particular endowment of moral agency and power.\u00a0 Being too small is a vote for humiliation, not humility.\u00a0 The line in the poem, “Unable to be taken,”<\/em> similarly cuts both ways.\u00a0 “Being taken,” as duped or cheated, is perhaps one of the most unwelcome and trust betraying realities in life.\u00a0 I suspect that it is difficult to overestimate the effort we will employ to avoid such situations.\u00a0 Similarly true, “being taken,” as in being taken by a lover or experience of overwhelming awe, can be profoundly life transforming in previously unimagined ways.\u00a0 I think that the openness and vulnerability inherently in “being taken” inextricably\u00a0links both forms\/meanings.\u00a0 Hardening oneself to being duped or cheated likewise hardens one’s ability and likelihood of enthrallment.\u00a0 By cutting ourselves off from vulnerability and intimacy, we rob ourselves of its upsides, in essence throwing the baby out with the bathwater.\u00a0 I posit that living a life that is not adept at being taken is a life that to that same degree is not fully lived. \u00a0 May you find hope and enthrallment that is worth infinitely more than whatever you have been cheated out of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you should believe The hole truth And nothing A butt the truth You may well be Full if it Perfectly primed For letting go Unable to be taken Any more By a singular won Given By an other This … 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":[403,353,294,458,428,388,404,293,473,565,359,155,354,658,94,110,409,464,421,487,514],"class_list":["post-2213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-arrogance","tag-attitude","tag-awe","tag-cynicism","tag-experience","tag-hope","tag-hubris","tag-humility","tag-ideology","tag-intimacy","tag-life","tag-moral","tag-perspective","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-power","tag-responsibility","tag-trust","tag-truth","tag-universe","tag-vulnerability"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: A Truth Foul | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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