Forest's contribution

Thanks to Polly, Sophie and Mom for posting poems as comments on the last post. I had asked my brother for his favorite poem on the phone earlier and he emailed me what follows. I thought others would like to read it too, as well appreciate his comments. Thanks Forest!

Signpost, by Robinson Jeffers


Civilized, crying: how to be human again; this will tell you how.
Turn outward, love things, not men, turn right away from humanity,
Let that doll lie. Consider if you like how the lilies grow,
Lean on the silent rock until you feel its divinity
Make your veins cold; look at the silent stars, let your eyes
Climb the great ladder out of the pit of yourself and man.
Things are so beautiful, your love will follow your eyes;
Things are the God; you will love God and not in vain,
For what we love, we grow to it, we share its nature. At length
You will look back along the star's rays and see that even
The poor doll humanity has a place under heaven.
Its qualities repair their mosaic around you, the chips of strength
And sickness; but now you are free, even to be human,
But born of the rock and the air, not of a woman.

Uhh, you said to include with the poem a couple sentences about why you like it, but this turned out to be a couple paragraphs! Feel free to select. [I didn't cut anything.]

People criticize Jeffers for being too "brutal." However, I think this poem shows that he is no misanthrope, just that he locates the value of humanity within the greater beauty of nature. Humans are beautiful not because they are exceptional, but because they are also a part of nature. This perspective, shared with deep ecologists, is also consistent with the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions that have undermined the anthrocentrist view that our planet and our species, respectively, are more significant in the universe than other planets and species. Jeffers perspective is appealing because it seems factually correct, but also because it resonates with my own personal experience. It has helped me reconcile myself to people in times when I have been repulsed by our shortcomings.

On the other hand, I don't think my own worldview is as thoroughly ecocentric as his. It may be (and seems to be) that humanity is not particularly "special" in any satisfactorily objective sense, but looking at the world objectively is a cold and sterile practice, and not the only option available. The most exciting and meaningful bits of life often go hand in hand with a decidedly subjective perspective. My family may not be objectively more valuable to the universe than anyone else's, but it is more valuable to me, and I love it most. The same goes for humanity. It might not be exceptional in the bigger cosmic picture, but by god, it's my species and I care about its survival most. In the end, the earth and all the people and species on it will be engulfed by the expanding sun. For meaning and purpose, we have to turn to our own -- and each others' -- subjective experiences.