So, the world happens twice--_x000D_ once what we see it as;_x000D_ second it legends itself_x000D_ deep, the way it is.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that our perception of the world is just one aspect of its existence; the reality of the world is deeper and shaped by its own narrative.
William Stafford's quote expresses the duality of human perception and the intrinsic nature of reality. It implies that while we interpret and understand the world through our experiences and senses, there exists a deeper, more profound truth that the world embodies independently of our perceptions. This layered understanding invites us to reflect on how we engage with reality, realizing that our interpretations are merely a surface view of a more complex existence.
In practice
A speaker discussing the nature of reality at a philosophy conference.
I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly. And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo, or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along.
They miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, "Who are you really, wanderer?"-- and the answer you have to give no matter how dark and cold the world around you is: "Maybe I'm a king.
A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.
The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing. And things you know before you hear them β those are you, those are why you are in the world.
A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.
The earth says have a place, be what that place_x000D_ requires; hear the sound the birds imply_x000D_ and see as deep as ridges go behind_x000D_ each other.
War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.
The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
Dreams are not without meaning wherever they may come from β from fantasy, from the elements, or from another inspiration.
The glory of God always comes at the sacrifice of self.
For a moment he felt a wild hope: perhaps this really was a nightmare. Perhaps he would awake in his own bed, bathed in sweat, shaking, maybe even crying . . . but alive. Safe. Then he pushed the thought away. Its charm was deadly, its comfort fatal.
Those who think of freedom in this country as one long, broad path leading ever onward and upward are dead damned wrong.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.