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Tuesday, 01 May 2007 18:29 |
| Robert Bly
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By JIM GENARO
The spiritual journey from awakening to disillusionment and, ultimately, reunion with the divine, was the overarching theme of the poetry that Robert Bly shared with a packed audience last Wednesday night at UNC Ashevilleís Humanities Lecture Hall.
Bly, a poet, translator and founder of what he calls the ìexpressive menís movement,î presented ìThe Soul is Here for Its Own Joy: An Evening of Sacred Poetry,î featuring works by the mystical poets Jalaluddin Rumi, Mirabai, Rainer Maria Rilke and others. About 300 people attended the reading, which was sponsored by UNCAís Office of Cultural and Special Events and the Prama Institute.
Before the readings from some of the worldís great mystical poets, Bly
read a couple of his own poems, ìbecause you need to know where I am
before I start reading spiritual poems.î He then added, cryptically,
ìThatís a joke.î
The readings were sprinkled with commentaries and his repeated question
to the audience, ìCan you feel it?î Most poems, he read twice,
emphasizing certain passages.
Throughout, Blyís unique humor punctuated his words.
Describing his work with the expressive menís movement, Bly said,
ìThese menís gatherings are ways to feed poetry to guys.î Generally,
the gatherings have about 40 or 50 participants, and he noted that
there is ìa little bit of differenceî between the sessions and a
comparable gathering of women.
ìOne of them is that women actually learned to talk a long time ago ... but the men seem so surprised!î he joked.
Mystical poets ó particularly those of the Hindu and Sufi traditions ó
express a very different relationship with God in their writing than
typical Christians do, Bly said.
Their poetry ìdoesnít say ëI admire God and Iím a good student.í Thatís
too weak,î he told the audience. Rather, the ecstatic poets say, ìGod
is making love to me,î he added.
One common thread in their writings is the use of the term ìguest,î Bly noted.
ìWhen they use the word ëguest,í the aim is to make your body into a
good home for travelers so that youíll have someone living there,î he
explained. ìWhat you call ësalvationí belongs to the time before death.î
This implies a receptivity to the presence of God in oneís life, Bly
elaborated. In the language of the ecstatic poets, this often carries
sexual connotations.
ìIf you make love with the divine now, you will spend the next life
with a satisfied smile,î he added. This concept is ìa little different
from the people that say ëYeah, I love God ... I think I do.íî
Reading from the works of Kabir, Bly said, ìBetween the conscious and
the unconscious, the mind has put up a swing. All earthís creatures ó
even the supernovas ó swing between these two trees and it never winds
down.î
Jokingly, he added, ìThe Indians are very, very open to people who say
weird things, but they would be kicked out of graduate school here.î
Bly then turned to the Indian mystical poet Mirabai, who he noted was a devotee of the Hindu god Krishna.
Born into a royal family, Mirabai decided at a very young age to devote
herself to spiritual matters and began seeking out holy men whose feet
she would wash and then drink the water.
Her family, Bly noted, decided ìthis is not appropriate for a
princess,î so they imprisoned her in her room. However, she would
escape by tying saris ó Indian dresses ó together to make a rope and
climbing out of her upper-floor room to resume the practice.
ìItís hard to deal with a daughter like this,î Bly joked.
As an adult, Mirabai devoted herself to Krishna, whom she referred to
as ìthe dark oneî ó an apparent reference to his flowing black hair.
ìListen, my, friend, this road is a hard one,î she wrote. ìIf we could
reach the lord through immersion in water, I would have asked to be
born as a fish in this life ... The heat of midnight tears will bring
you to God.î
ìItís the mood of Emily Dickinson, you know what I mean?î Bly commented. ìBut (she is) a little more excessive.î
In a traditional context, he noted, these poems are ìalways meant to be done with music ó ecstatic music.î
Mirabai often expressed her longing for Krishna as sexual desire, he said.
ìIf you come anywhere near my house, I will close my sandalwood doors
and lock you in,î she wrote of the god. In the same poem, Mirabai says
that she ìturns her life over to the midnight of his hair,î Bly read,
emphasizing the passage.
ìNow, do you see how thatís really different from Christian poems about
this?î he asked. ìNow, I donít mean to say that Christian poems are
inferior in that way, but thereís not a lot of hair in them,î he added,
prompting laughter from the audience.
A common thread in mystical poetry is a progression whereby the poet
first becomes enamored of the divine, only to experience a sense of
separation and loss of spiritual awareness before later returning to
that initial awareness, Bly said.
He noted that this path can be seen in many Christian writers, such as
St. John of the Cross, but added that Indians seem to be more accepting
of the periods of separation.
ìThey donít commit suicide. They donít go to therapy. They say, ëIíll
be alone for two or three years. Everything in my life will be stupid
and dull. Thatís the way it is.íî
Bly then focused on writings by the Czech poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who
he said was ìthe first poet that I read in the Western tradition who
had something that I later would find in the Hindus.î
Bly read from a poem by Rilke, ìI am too alone in this world and not alone enough to make every moment holy.î
ìIf we had a culture in the United States, you would hear these
(verses) on the television,î Bly said. ìYou know, televisionís going to
get worse and worse, itís hard to believe.î
Americans are so addicted to television that programming does not even have to be good anymore, he added.
ìThe reason why it turns so quickly is because you cannot form a
thought in that time and thatís the main thing the corporations want ó
for you not to form a thought.î
Bly read some more of his own poems, including a couple about his family.
He reflected on his mother, who, he wrote, was the only one in the family to talk about his fatherís drinking.
ìAnd nobody wanted to be on her side,î he added, referring to his brother and himself.
His father, Bly said, was a reluctant churchgoer and husband. ìOne
life, one woman ó that was Godís rule and he didnít like it much,î Bly
read.
He then turned to the Persian mystical poet Rumi. Persia ó modern-day
Iran ó was a great culture at the time of Rumiís life, Bly noted.
He said he had recently traveled to Iran with his friend Coleman Barks,
who was being honored for his work as a translator of Rumiís poetry. He
said that during his time there, he heard many people express great
love for Americans and that he felt a strong kinship with the people
there.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran obscure many Americansí ability to
see the great historical role and intellectual culture of the Persian
world, Bly said.
ìWe canít admit another culture is better than we are,î he argued, but
added that ìthe Iranians are a little nuts, of course ó especially the
people running it.î
Quoting Rumi on the nature of ecstatic poetry, Bly said, ìWhat you are eating is your own imagination.î
The poet often used fairly simple images in a flowing succession that
stimulates the listenerís imagination and leads back to where it
started, Bly said. These images, he added, ìdonít comfort you at all.î
In one poem by Rumi, which Bly translated, the mystic lists 12 lies
that people commonly tell each other. These included ìThe one you love
is unfaithful,î ìYour night will never end in dawnî and ìThe people in
the underbrush say ëThere is no path to the mountain. And whatís more,
there is no mountain.íî
The last of these lies was that nothing is communicated without words.
Addressing this, Bly said, ìOnce you love communication ó which you
learn with words ó youíll realize that it takes place without words.î
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