metonymy4u

in a world without absolute certainty (“god is dead”) and with an authority structure that appears inevitably to fall into coercion and cruelty in order to maintain group cohesion (“power tends to corrupt”), what is left for humans to hold onto? how do we maintain solidarity and cohesion of purpose in a world with no anchor and little compassion in the halls of power? when even the wisest among us are overwhelmed by this dialectic, how do we move forward without blowing ourselves to bits in the process? i think this is what Rilke meant when he wrote, “who is there we can make use of?… Don’t you know yet?—Fling the emptiness out of your arms into the spaces we breathe—maybe that the birds will feel the extended air in more intimate flight.”