Sunday, December 23, 2012

Wisdom, F/act, Love

Philosophy is the love of wisdom.
Poetry is the wisdom of love.

Wisdom is conceptual clarity.
Love is emotional intensity.

Concepts condition thought.
Emotions condition feeling.

You cannot touch a thought.
You cannot see a feeling.

In philosophy one brings the thought
into the realm of feeling, one gives it texture.
In poetry one brings the feeling
into the realm of thought, giving it structure.

Philosophy renders thought palpable.
Poetry renders feeling visible.

To love is to approach the act
with intensity in feeling.
To be wise is to approach the fact
with clarity in thought.

True wisdom, like true love, is wordless.
That is why philosophy is not wisdom
and poetry is not love. They are too wordy.

But the words can be arranged
more or less carefully
more or less daringly
To indicate the fact, the act.

Now, the act just happens.
The fact just obtains, here.

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