The main trouble with philosophy today is that it concerns only half of the human condition – the intellectual, rational or “spiritual” part of our being. But while many today would prefer to think that we are only our rational minds, the fact is our emotional, sensual body is left out of the picture. What poetry adds to philosophy is this missing half.
One of my all-time favourite philosophical poems is the Tao Te Ching, and its
“polar vision” – the Yin and Yang of experience.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other. (2)
We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the centre hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it liveable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use. (11)
This poem teaches the necessity of this fundamental polarity in life – that the Yang intellect needs to acknowledge its Yin counterpole in the somatic psyche. Poetry integrates and completes abstract philosophy.
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