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All poems: copyright by
Nicholas Gordon
Free scrapbook poems
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provided by the author. |
1. Ecstasy is the lightning that flashes
whenever we get sufficiently close to being.
2. Like lightning, ecstasy is a flow of energy
that cannot be long sustained, is dangerous, and is often accompanied by
storms.
3. Again like lightning, however, ecstasy can
be harnessed to create a more reliable, albeit feebler flow. The social
instruments that harness ecstasy are art, religion, and
marriage.
4. Even so, as we approach the nakedness of being,
we feel a mingled terror, awe, and pleasure for which there is no substitute.
The self falls away, leaving the soul naked before the nakedness of being,
longing for fulfillment, for catastrophe, for death.
5. Such ecstasy can become addictive, resulting
in obsessive self-destruction, as with those who seek ecstasy in repeated
sex with strangers, or in serial love affairs, or in gambling or danger or
drugs.
6. Experienced within a discipline, however,
whether of meditation, prayer, creation, service, or love, ecstasy is the
principal way in which we experience being as pleasure, and is therefore
necessary to the attainment of happiness.
7. The pursuit of ecstasy is the surest sign
of obsession, just as the enjoyment of ecstasy in everyday life is the surest
sign of wisdom.
Next: The Principles
of Wisdom: Death
Previous: The Principles of Wisdom:
Love
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