I recently shared stanza one of Sarton's "The Beautiful Pauses" with Vicky, a new friend with whom I have been discussing the creative life.
Stanza one of "The Beautiful Pauses" by May Sarton reads:
Angels, beautiful pauses in the whirlwind,
Be with us through the seasons of unease;
Within the clamorous traffic of the mind,
Through all these clouded and tumultuous days,
Remind us of your great unclouded ways.
It is the wink of time, crude repetition,
That whirls us round and blurs our anxious vision,
But centered in its beam, your own nunc stans
Still pivots and sets free the sacred dance.
'Philosophers and theologians have spoken of the `nunc stans', the abiding now, the instant that knows no temporal articulation, where distinctions between now, earlier and later have fallen away or have not arisen. All of us know, I believe, poignant moments that have this timeless quality: unique and matchless, complete in themselves and somehow containing all there is in experience.'
H. LOEWALD, 'Comments on Religious Experience', in Psychoanalysis and the History of the Individual, New Haven 1978
When I write, I sometimes feel as though I have entered nunc stans, the abiding now. As you see, according to H. Loewald, it is a condition in which you are complete in yourself "and somehow containing all there is in experience."
2 comments:
Writing definitely brings on those moments which are beyond linear time. I treasure those times. Though they can happen while doing anything, I know that they'll happen when I'm writing, praying or during sex. All three are deeply spiritual things for me.
It happens to me when I am reading, not all books do that. It is possible that when I do it is because the author was in that state when the writing occured?
Post a Comment