How is the search for truth related to a one’s attitude and whole life experience?
Baiting the hook with those feelings and ideas each acquired
And now treasures in a box with his name,
Each knows that his haul will surely for its own sake be admired,
For no two catches are the same:
None could have landed by formula and each has pearled
An angler’s face and unique perspective on the world.¹
The cohesion of that vision can only be forged with patience,
Cries out for the greatest honesty,
Urges re-patterning when shattered by life’s frustrations
Before we grow cynical and testy.
Therefore it begs for an ambience of shared goals and values
And an aesthetic that anglers are free to accept or refuse:
Since feminine logic and the subconscious may show what is true
And perennial, however fugitive,
The Vera has an aesthetic reward for the dedication of the crew,
To give soul the field inductive -
A water nymph for a figure-head, to see into the figurative lands
Beyond the bounds of fact that science commands.²
Some watches have reported seeing a look in her eye
That appeared to return their gaze:
Warming to the figurative, they’d learned that Reason could dignify
The fires of Imagination with praise
Of empathy and symbol; now they had proof that experiences
Have inherent structure, the workings of cultural influences.³
The Vera has many other figureheads all cultures to denote:
A houri, an angel, a Madonna -
I see on her prow, occasionallly, a Valkyrie in a labcoat! -*
¹ Truth seekers will share what they have internalized themselves, proving that conviction at its best is reciprocal and altruistic. One person’s tales, anecdotes or teachings help others to see motivations and experiences that normally go unrecognized. This form of truth-seeking differs from the excitement-
seeking of the “ship of fools”
in Nihilism Rules, OK? .
² The figurehead expresses the need for a symbolic life, achieved by internalizing metaphysical and mythical traditions (cf.Login).
³ They saw in the nymph an articulate representation and answer to modern issues, so they warmed to her. This is because art, philosophy, theology,
the media and psychology mediate at a subconscious level our attempts to grapple with these issues and so give form and substance to our lives.
* a German PhD student I knew