Is the world too much with us or is the world not enough?
You would properly know if had previously read my live journal I feel a sort of affinity with the romantic poets. Wordsworth and Coleridge are my contemporaries. The lecture this week made me really think about nature and the world. Do we consider the world is the consumeristic body of people that inhabits the Earth? Or do we consider the world all that is present both the natural and the man-made? I think that man throughout the history of the Earth has endeavoured to master and control the natural elements. Only when we are in harmony with nature can we consider every thing on the earth the world. The fact stands that man no longer has respect for the God given but rather constantly attempts to master it. This can be seen even in our own bodies. How beautiful is the new born child. What a gift is that to society. However through the ‘revolutionary’ 60s now we can even control our own natural bodily rhythms. The pill hampers what is natural. Granted we are all given intelligence and free will but there comes a point where we are playing God.
We are not meant to live life from the sidelines. We need to take a page out of Denise Levertov’s book and take the world by both hands. We need to ‘taste and see’ all that is available to us. But there are things in life that we are just not meant to know. Our future is uncertain which is why we need to trust. You cannot tangibly see God which is why we need to have faith. “O Taste and See” makes reference to the bible story of Genesis. Eve ate the forbidden fruit and suffered for that. You have the choice whether or not to eat that fruit. But what glory is there in choosing the easy path and giving in to sin? There is none. Everyone is aware of what is good and what is evil. The glory lies in being tempted by that fruit and trusting in God that there is a reason not to eat of it. Granted in life we make mistakes and learning from that experience also has its benefits.
Here’s a poem that I wrote about this struggle between good and evil.
Frustrated.
Untouched.
Yet undecided.
Yet longing.
Imagineing what the it would be like.
Sin.
Guilt.
Wheres the medium.
I am a woman as are the women around me.
Who do as they please.
I promised myself.
Frustrated.
Untouched.
Longing.
Consoled - thoughts of God’s desire to be in complete union with him.
His desperate thirst.
Yet all I desire is base replication.
Weak, human.
I can do all things through God who strengthens me.
Satisfaction. Complete.
Sarah.