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TS ELIOT vs MICHAEL COLLINS
this is why i been thinking ts eliot should be excluded, however my view has now changed, even though he does not hope to turn again, does not hope to turn, does not hope.
maybe it will sound like semantics but isn't a jailbreak the beginning of a journey? yes i know, doing the washing up is doing the washing up, but pragmatism and practicality can embrace the concept of soul. although there is still a machine, it is possible to be a ghost within it. (indeed, it would be possible to take the view that without the machine there can be no ghost - see the cat, see the cradle?).
there is no doubt that our lives are nasty, brutish and short, but is there no relief or enlightenment, no soul in shakespeare? in cezanne? in puccini?
i think it was the johnson man with the dictionary who said that human beings make beasts of themselves in order to ease the pain of being human. the evidence for this everywhere (mostly on city centre street corners at midnight on fridays.)
but cannot we become angels instead/as well as beasts? there are examples of people embracing the pain, of enduring despite it, or perhaps because of it, because it is a counterpoint. there can be no angels in eden. without evil is there no good? (not that i believe we should celebrate evil, human beings are creatures that strive. our striving, i believe, can be into betterness and away from increasing less evil badness)
much is like a seesaw, a counterbalance, a positive paradox.
and so to return to eliot. i will not strike him out because the clear blue line is surely about recognising the positives? like a multiple choice, we tick the positives but we do not strike out either the negatives or the dead ends, that would be a waste of energy, time and resource.
as for shackleton, he needs more analysis. i had believed that his was an entirely naive proposition, to seek the clear blue line where there is ice against sky. but i was wrong, his ship was called endurance. its destination was not its destiny, its purpose was to seek the clarity of "clearness" and "blueness" through, perhaps, what can be the only route - human endurance.
please tell me it is not more hollywood hype but i think michael collins had it in a nutshell, our only weapon is our refusal.
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