Being Ignored
There’s nothing more upsetting
Than being ignored
When that receptive calling for what we need -
Food, water, knowledge, understanding, love -
To keep us alive
Dwelling in the seat of souls
Goes unheard
By blithe spirits
Certain of their prowess
Soaring above us all
With heads in the clouds
Excised from bodily belonging
In natural neighbourhood
.
Talking down to us
In superior tones
From outside
Like airy fairies
Lacking substance
While seeing only what’s made to measure
Unaware of how we feel and what we know inside
Our embodied inner vision
Which we could tell them if they asked
In return for their overarching view of where we are
In relationship to others
.
Only to plummet, wingless
Windless
Down to Earth
Leaving us all at sea
In abandoned ships
Where all that remains for us to say
In deep dismay
Too late now for them to hear
Is
“I’m sorry, but I told you so
You’ve gone too far away from me
For me to help
You see
Within your selves”
.
We could have gone somewhere together
You and Me
If only you had heard
My silenced word
Which is no consolation at all
For having to bear witness
To your fall
Spreading havoc
Amongst us all
…
This piece, like much of my writing, can be read in at least two ways, depending on viewpoint. It could be read as an expression of my frustration, loneliness and bewilderment in having my personal learning experience disregarded, sidelined and/or contradicted. What does such a feeling of desolation mean with regard to my perception of reality? What can I do about it? Who or what do I place my faith in?
It can also be read as an expression of how it feels to have our human beingness as sentient life forms ignored by an attitude of mind that regards us as inferior objects whose vulnerabilities are unacceptable weaknesses that need to be overcome if we are to prosper. This attitude has become deeply culturally entrenched in conventional philosophy, science, theology, mathematics, language, education and politics. I have recognised how it arises through the mental isolation of self- or group-identity from natural neighbourhood and is reinforced by systems of axiomatic/definitive logic that either abstract or conflate tangible substance from or with intangible space and energy. It can be resolved very simply though the principle of natural inclusion — the mutual inclusion of intangible space and energy as receptive and responsive occurrences in all tangible phenomena. This principle brings inner and outer views of reality — neither of which alone are viable — co-creatively together instead of divorcing or conflating them. We can then — and only then — move on from the ‘Pride & Prejudice’ that brought about the downfall of Icarus, to the ‘Sense & Sensibility’ that enables us to live compassionately, understandingly and creatively together in natural companionship with one another and our habitat. My deliberate use of the seemingly intolerant and superior phrase ‘I told you so’ is intended to bring out the feeling of despair and last resort that arises when this possibility for reconciliation is ignored.
For further exploration of ‘natural inclusion’, please visit my personal website at http://www.spanglefish.com/exploringnaturalinclusion.
