the shaman sees doors
the shaman sees doors
everywhere
once you see a thing
becoming sensitive
you find them
everywhere
you may have looked
before and not seen
it passed by
unnoticed
but once attuned
they leap out of the world
and into your awareness
a thousand instances a day
the shaman sees doors now
everywhere
Labels: photography, poem, shamanism
posted by Art Durkee at 10:57 AM
3 Comments:
The truth of this is so self-evident, and yet as expressed here, it strikes with the force of revelation. A little gem of a poem.
I agree with Dave here. What this poem made me think about was pregnant women actually. I remember when my first wife got pregnant suddenly, as if out of nowhere, I started seeing all this ‘glowing’ women. Obviously they were there before but not having any special interest in pregnancy they were practically invisible to me. The whole subject of shamanism is a closed world to me. I don’t pooh-pooh it but I feel like a blind man listening to a conversation about colour when people talk about it. Most experiences don’t translate well into words but I suspect that’s especially the case when it comes to spiritual ones.
Thanks to both of you. I'm pleased you liked this poem. It's a little outside my usual gamut in terms of style, but maybe that's a good thing. I was going through photos from my last road trip up north a month or so ago, and remembering what I was thinking at the time I was making this photo. Things like this image, in the natural world, natural sorts of portals, really catch my attention these days.
Jim, I agree it can be hard to put spiritual experiences into words. But that's why I rely on poetry, because poetry can be allowed, in most peoples' minds, to express the inexpressible, where prose simply cannot. So it at least gets closer to it, even if it still falls short. A lot of spiritual experiences themselves have an aesthetic, almost poetic or musical quality to them; it explains why so many mystics have resorted to poetry, or art, or music, to try to convey their experiences.
Post a Comment
<< Home