Practical self-interest is rubbing its cold hands
At its rational inheritance, after its prioritizing heart
Was buried at Wounded Knee and in the airy-fairy lands.
Now Reason, disembodied from is throbbing counterpart,
Computes the means with the cost and the benefit,
Dropping the still, small voice as a prerequisite
For making moral choices. It thinks itself smart
With its one cold eye on profit! The pupils
Of the Cyclops, with their feet on the ground, are resplendent
With the utility gain from reducing their scruples.
They sum their endowment of Reason to be independent
Of the way they live, ever stamping their feet,
Uprooted from the soil of otherness, the seat
Of thoughtful responsiveness. Surely pendent
In air is the taproot, if shrivelled are the priorities
At the centre of life, if unbalanced are desires
By the mind? Is the plant stressed? It is!
Sans heart, sans values, mind quenches its fires
Till its knows what’s what, nor cares what’s not,
A student of means with the ends forgot –
To be whole, to have character, to know what inspires.
9. CREATIVITY
(the lateral thinking)
'No matter how old you get, if you can keep the desire to be creative, you're keeping the man-child alive.' - John Cassavetes