I had an interesting conversation of sorts this morning. "Of sorts", because it started out with a text message, was relatively brief and consisted mostly of me listening. (Which is a good thing for me to do sometimes, but doesn't always lend itself too well to the whole "conversation" thing.)
The subject matter: Emily Dickinson's poem #657, which begins:
I dwell in Possibility--
A fairer House than Prose--
More numerous of Windows--
Superior--for Doors -
Lately, I've noticed that first line a lot--one of my friends uses it as her email signature, I have a plaque with the phrase printed on it and it crops up quite a bit in motivational context. I've enjoyed seeing my favorite poet get some widespread, modern-day exposure.
So...in a little poetry-quoting exchange this morning, I text-messaged that line to a fellow thinker-of-a-lot-of-things...and got a whole lot more than poetry in return. And I've been ruminating (I mean "pondering"--did you know it also means "chewing cud"?) on it all day. I should have been taking notes, because I've taken it apart and examined it so much that I can't put it back together in its original packaging, but...he basically told me that, if I choose to "dwell in possibility", I'm not moving purposefully in any direction--I'm living in a state of "anything can happen" (which is, in itself, entirely true), but if I sit there all my life waiting for the possibility of anything to happen, I'm...well, I'm missing it.
God tells me to "go", "be", "do", "tell", "work"...and those are all actions. (He also tells me to "wait", but my sense is that this is an action, too, not a position of lying down and doing nothing.) I have some fear that I HAVE "missed it" to some extent--that I have such huge hope that anything CAN happen that, in some areas of my life, I've focused more on the dreaming about possibilities and less on the actions required to see A dream become reality.
In all honesty, from my studying the commentaries of those who are more expert on Miss Emily's poems than I am, I think the general population has misinterpreted the meaning of this poem and appropriated one line out of context for its own use (because it DOES sound good!), so I'm not really asking for commentary about the poem itself, unless, of course, you feel particularly constrained to do so!
I AM interested in hearing some other viewpoints/interpretations on the whole "dwelling" thing. How do we move past the possibility into reality? Is that scary for anyone else? It is for me.
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11 comments:
may i forward you to shane claibornes book, "The Irresistable Revolution"
hmmm...I wonder whose email signature you're talking about?! Oh, that's right. It's mine! Boo-yeah.
So here's how I interpreted the meaning of it, keeping in mind I've never looked up the exact meaning of the words or anything. I take it to mean that if I'm dwelling in possibility, I'm approaching every situation as an opportunity to better myself, a possible growth opportunity. Some are, and some aren't, but if I'm living in a constant state of expectation for an opportunity to present itself or something like that, I'm not going to miss that "possibility" when it comes along.
So I can be totally off on this. I have it on my signature as a reminder to approach every day expecting God to make the impossible possible and to lead us where we never thought we would go!
Hersch--you may.
Jules--that's kind of how I've approached it as well. I'm still thinking on it...how it applies specifically to ME, how I'm going to be purposeful in stepping out of the realm of "possibility" into the realm of "actuality", I guess.
I'm trying to not slap my standard "that's just semantics" answer onto this, even though it may very well be.
I just don't want to be one of those 40-something year-olds living in the la-la land in my head, still dreaming fairy tale dreams and not stepping into the reality of LIFE. (Not that I think I am...for the most part, anyway!)
of my goodness mama. i have to go to an appoinment. but you best be sure i'll be back on this one. oh yes. i'll be back.
i'm sitting at a crossroads right now trying to decide where to start. though, i am a little biased having been on both sides of the issue and now finding myself coming down squarely (or circley, or triangley, or trapezoidaly) on the side of possibility. (i'm a just gonna ramble for awhile. you can read it or not. it's up to you.)
when you deal with metaphysical concepts such as quantum physics and possibility, when you make the leap from concrete "reality" (whatever that is) to "infinite possibility", you have made a complete change of paradigm. it's an entirely different way of viewing the world which doesn't make sense to those who believe in "reality" as a static thing. it's a change from thinking that, "there is an overarching world that is happening to everyone right now, exactly the same, that people need to come to realize and agree with." to thinking that, "there is an infinite amount of possibilities and choices before me right now and based upon what choices i make, will the world around me actually be constructed. and it will be different than the world of each person around me."
believing in a state of "infinite possibility", and leaving yourself open to that, does not, in my opinion, leave you nowhere. rather, it leaves you everywhere. once again, this depends on your perspective. because in my experience and estimation of the world for the past 31 years, i get the sense that MOST of the world is not any sort of a self-existant "reality" that just "is" and which we need to come to grips with. rather, it seems to me that MOST of the world is actually a human construct that has been created and subconsciously agreed upon by humanity and only exists in the sense that we give it life by the choices that we make every day.
and here is where i think the sides differ in a semantical way. both would agree that things happen as a result of action. "reality" would have you believe that your choices are in fact limited and only open to a small set of pre-ratified, or "acceptable" choices. (very convenient that the "appropriate" or "acceptable" choices will only serve to further the life of the "reality" that makes the claims about what is "accepatable" or appropriate".)
"infinite possibility" would have you believe that nothing exists (outside of god and his creation) in and of itself. but rather, they are given birth into the world, moment by moment, through our choices. and that this power of creation has been given to us by god in an effort to make us in his image.
i find myself, now, in the latter category of thought.
here's one example of the latter for you to "ruminate" or "ponder" or "cud chew."
our modern life and systems. "reality" would have you think that these things just exist and that's how it is. and that any choices you make should be made within the paradigm of "school" and "job" and "money" and "commerce". even "verbal language." yet all of these things are not self-existant. they are human constructs that have come into play at some point in the past and continue to have life every day by the choices that we ALL collectively make, day to day.
we COULD all wake up tomorrow and do SOMETHING ELSE... no more jobs, no more money, no more language, no more government, no more... couches. no more cars. no more signs or televisions or movies or computers or prisons or... obviously the list can go on and on and on into infinity if we wanted. we could just leave all of this litter sitting around and unplug the "beast" once and for all. but yet we stay. we stay and give life to this soul crushing, life sucking, darkness fueling, poverty creating, enmity birthing THING that has us convinced that we need IT rather than the most high god for survival. because if you'll be honest, thinking about simply walking out your front door and leaving it all behind, and i mean ALL of it, terrifies you. it terrifies me. i think it terrifies all of us. but it is the truth, in my opinion, plain and simple. we trust in this system of survival of our own creation rather than the god who gave us the abilities and the commodities with which we create it. we could have doneANYTHING with them. yet this is what we chose. strike that. choose. present tense.
at least, that is just a small tip of my thoughts and feelings about the difference btween "reality" and "possibility."
but of course, this is assuming that "reality" is being defined as something static and unchanging. if "reality" is being defined as simply an actualized "possibility" that still retains its ability to be changed according to "possibility", then i don't think the two views conflict at all, but are rather a healthy balance that we need to find in order to make our "possibilities" into "actualities."
sorry. it's been a long time since i dumped a comment like this on someone's blog. i hope you can follow that. feel free to question any or all of it. it's all just my personal point of view.
Jon, my friend, you are a brother indeed. Thanks for the "dumping".
Do it any time--seriously.
I'm going to "chew" on this some more and be back when it's more thoroughly digested. I was hoping to get at least a small glimpse of how others view possibility vs. reality--thanks for sharing to such a depth...and at such length!
I haven't really thought deeply about this, so be forewarned that this is my off-the-cuff response, but here goes:
Some people's tendency is to lean toward "do"ing. They do, do, do so much that they leave no room for God. On the other hand, I know others whose tendecy is to wait, wait, wait and never act on what God shows them. Neither of those are good. Neither are a picture of obedience.
So yeah, I think God tells us both to "do" and to "wait," so what to do in a particular situation depends on what God is saying. I'm a "do"er, so it does me good to wait and rest and abide and listen, so that I'm not just pushing my own agend. My husband, on the other hand, is laid-back to the max, and the biggest step he can take toward God is to ACT on what God has already shown him.
I believe the reason we wait is so that we can hear God, so that when we DO act, we are acting out of obedience and not out of our own agendas. Unfortunately for anal-retentive, systematic people like me, God is not always predictable, and I don't always know what his will is in a particular situation (as a good friend once told me "You're not following a list, you're following a person."), so it takes a lot of quietness and discernment to know whether to do or to wait. And to me, to dwell in the house of possibility is to be open to what God might be saying, so I can eventually act decisively and know that I am following Him and not myself.
Oh, and the last thing I mean to add is something another wise, godly woman told me recently: when it doubt, lean against your tendency. (i.e. if you tendency is to wait, wait, wait, maybe it's time to act, and vice versa)
yes. balance.
but that's the source of our existential dilemma, isn't it? just what should that balance look like in a life? and how can we get everyone else to live out our ideal of what that is? forcefully if necessary.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH US!?
[How do you like this, Dena? Your blog has become message-board-ish :)]
In response to Jon:
Someone told me last week (Okay, I'll confess--it was the Weight Watchers lady) that a balance is a moving thing. Therefore, it's not about "striking a balance," as though it were a target, but about keeping things in our lives more or less "even," not letting any one thing get way out of proportion, but accepting that they'll always be bobbling around somewhat.
Also, your comment reminded me of something my good buddy Chad once said: Our lives are like a pendulum--we're only "in balance" when we're swinging our way toward the other extreme. Ha!
I like it! Keep talking...good stuff. It's making me think. I remember that pendulum comment--hadn't thought about THAT in years. More food for thought.
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