Thursday, December 15, 2011

A NATURALIST'S POETICS OF WINTER’S SOLSTICE (Parts I & II)


Part I: Experiencing the Seasons

“Days and nights, seasons and tides, cycles of fertility, rest and activity: all are reflections of the rhythms imposed upon us by celestial motions.  They have influenced where, and how, people may live; the elements that they must overcome; the shelter and dress they must construct, and the stories that they tell about it all.” (114)
-          John D. Barrow The Artful Universe (1995)

          Every season has a poetic as well as an experiential gist.  There are stations that we find in each passing season where we are able to come to terms with what that season might mean to us, existentially, subjectively and inter-subjectively—as well as how it is constructed, objectively; i.e., in terms that science and rational engagement with Earth & Cosmos can discover and then explicate.  In touch with our experiences, natural and personal, inward and outward going, we travel around the Circle of the Seasons, moving from one station to the next.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A NATURALIST'S POETICS OF WINTER’S SOLSTICE (III)

Part III: Poetic Touchstones of the Winter Solstice

          Once we have explored the naturalistic parameters of the Winter Solstice, what can a more subjective and aesthetic experience tell us about it?   As someone open to Earth & Cosmos, the entire cosmos comes into play in my meditations.  Deep experiences of/in Nature at a particular season constitutes the Novitiate for Poetic Creation.  The Winter Solstice Season is replete with deep sensory and experiential associations.  This is an existential experience.  It is constituted by: