On Freedom and Poetry

DRAFT

I wish to say a few words about freedom, then relate this to the subject of poetry — especially the poetry of Sri Chinmoy. We’ll also bring in Bach, Beethoven, and a bit of Robert Frost. We’ll finish up with some bits about Sri Aurobindo, Elia Kazan, and the Irina character from a BBC production of John le Carré’s novel Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy.

To realize our human potential we need freedom. This includes the freedom to make mistakes, the freedom to rediscover ancient truths, and the freedom to develop new insights which others may not reach for hundreds of years. Without such freedom, we are doomed to a dull and blighted existence.

That freedom which we need also admits of paradox. It includes the freedom to choose to serve a great saint or a noble cause, to the point where others may say we have lost our freedom. The path of truth is narrow, and those who follow it know that they must tread more carefully than others who only want to run hither and thither, enjoying life’s pleasures in a whimsical way. A man of truth cannot do just anything which might come into his head.

If you ask a toddler to solve a problem in arithmetic, he may give any answer because he does not know or is unsure. Ask a mathematician, and he will feel obliged to give the correct answer. His wisdom will not be satisfied if he says that two plus two equals five.

I am not a man of truth, but having studied such men (and women), I would say that they enjoy a different kind of freedom: the freedom to live in God’s Will. This is not an impulsive freedom or an impetuous freedom, but a flowing freedom which becomes one with a vast Reality. It is this vaster, higher freedom which we are crying for in our lives. The lower type of freedom which cherishes whimsicality will not satisfy us.

As human beings we are half animal, so our concept of freedom is limited. If you bring home a stray dog, the dog may eat some things, break some things, and soil some things. The dog gets joy by running around and doing whatever. It cherishes this kind of freedom. In the same way, as human beings most of our waking hours are spent in constant doing. Either we are busy doing physical chores, or else our mind is roaming, churning and chattering away, reliving past experiences, or mulling over future hopes and plans, what we want to accomplish, who are our enemies, and so forth. In this way, we separate ourselves from the vast Reality which is going on all around us.

Meditation can be defined in various ways and employ various techniques. One definition of meditation is ‘not-doing.’ If we make our mind calm and quiet so that it is like a tranquil sea, then we get some relief from the burden of constant doing. We may receive the insight that it is not necessary for us to constantly create our own reality, which is a limited human reality. When we are not so busy exercising our phantasmagoria, we see that God’s Reality, which is a vast Reality, is going on all around us. We need only become one with it.