Poet and Mystic or Hypomanic Neurotic?
Distrust the motives of anyone who asks you an either/or question. You
can bet they already have the answer in mind. I remember the poet Howard Nemerov advising in an interview, "Whenever someone gives you a choice of either/or, take both/and."
I want my web page to be an invitation than anything else. I am interested
in mysticism, poetry, movies, psychology, Native American culture
(especially regarding Dakota, Lakota, Ojibwe and other Minnesotan bands) and in improving
my life with my wife, Leslee, and my kids Sophia, Andie and our newest child, Griffin. I'm interested in exchanging opinions and ideas
with someone from a foreign country (and, yes, I realize Canada is a
foreign country).
Here are a few things I think are important in relation to my first
couple of statements:
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Mysticism is homegrown, difficult and a part of everyday life. I am not
trying to use it as a buzzword or something New Age. Direct contact with
God (Goddess, the Divine, the Universe or whatever word you need to use
it to describe it) has been a part of human experience for thousands, if
not millions, of years). It's as common as that feeling you get when you
watch the sun set or when you see your daughter born and realize that you and she are a part of each other.
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I don't write rhymed poetry, but I like poetry by people like Shakespeare
and Marvell. My favorites are Whitman, Dickinson, Roethke, Jeffers, Stafford
and Rumi (all Americans except for Rumi the 13th century Sufi).
-
I'm also very big on writers like Montaigne and Voltaire who seem to be
steering us toward a rational and humane center.
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I'm beginning a very self-centered novel that I would like to publish bits
of from time to time in order to gauge reactions. Would you be willing to react to such a thing?
An excerpt:
"10/14/97 Leslee was just sickened at seeing that, you could tell. She's usually less excitable than me, but this the way Andie looked had her face all scrunched up. And Andie's face was full of fear. And a kid's fear is not like an adult's fear. Adult fears always seem to have an existential base, Am I doing very well at work? Is my husband having an affair with someone younger? When I'm 52, am I going to die of colon cancer like my grandfather? Stuff like that that can only be proven or disproven by many days or even years of very nonscientific observation. With a kid who's just turned 3, like Andie had, the fear is more immediate and has no forseeable end. It's a state of being. I'm sure that it was the worst pain she'd felt since being squeezed through the birth canal and emerging into the freezing air, only to have her connection to her mother cut." (from Page 1)
My email address is:
evansb@mail.mankato.msus.edu
You can send me an opinion, criticism or reaction.
The self-centered novel project:
Themes I want to cover, ideas to include
Page 1
Page 2
The requisite few links:
Threshold Books,
a publisher of books on Rumi
Klanwatch gives suggestions on how to combat racism and stay aware of terrorist activities by "militias" in the U.S.
A site built by
Sufis practicing in America
Mankato State University's
College of Education/Distance Education Project
Assorted
commonfolk also interested in spirituality
Find out about Baha'i believers in Baudette, MN
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hits since 3/18/98.
This is my page on Tripod. I also have the same material at FortuneCity
This page was constructed on December 31, 1997.
Updated 6/17/98.
I used Netscape Composer and SimpleText.