In response to rozk

[avevale_intelligencer]

A friend tells me that, if there is no soul,
There is no clash of body against mind.
I hate to be contentious, but I find
The case is rather different, on the whole.

For flesh and mind are clashing all the time;
The flesh says "eat!", the mind says "lose some weight."
The mind cries "run!", the flesh drones "vegetate,"
The soul is no wise guilty of this crime.

Am I the athlete who desires to run,
Or else the slugabed who yearns for quiet?
Do I crave food, or would I rather diet?
The I that speaks is both, and neither one.

When flesh and mind contend with shouts obscene
I place the soul--the self--smack in between.

Comments

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

*applauds* Adding to memories.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

*DITTO* And likewise.

Who is answering? -- Who is asking?

No mirror will show this questing face itself.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

To find oneself, there must be one to seek.
Nasrudin gallops through the darkened streets
Upon his steed; when questioned why, he bleats
"I'm looking for my donkey!" When we speak

Of soul, we mean a thousand different things.
Some say we are our memories, some our will,
And some say void; and yet I wonder still
What joy, what truth, this spartan credo brings.

Whenever, in the span of human days,
We have declared that "this is all there be,"
We have been wrong. Some few have dared to see
Horizons new beyond our trodden ways.

This has been so throughout the world; and thus
I dare to think it might be true of us.