I can't tell you where a poem comes from, what it is, or what it is for: nor can any other man. The reason I can't tell you is that the purpose of a poem is to go past telling, to be recognised by burning.
A. R. AmmonsRead
If the greatest god is the stillness all the motions add up to, then we must ineluctably be included.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that ultimate stillness is the essence of existence, and all our actions and motions emerge from this stillness.
A. R. Ammons' quote reflects a deep philosophical insight into the nature of existence, proposing that beneath all life's movements and changes, there lies an essential stillness that connects everything. By recognizing our inclusion in this stillness, we understand our participation in the grand scheme of life, where every motion, thought, and action contributes to a larger, serene whole. It invites us to contemplate the interplay between action and stillness, highlighting the unity in diversity.
Themes
StillnessExistenceMotionPhilosophyLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a meditation workshop discussing the nature of existence.
More from A. R. Ammons
All quotes βEven if you walk exactly the same route each time - as with a sonnet - the events along the route cannot be imagined to be the same from day to day, as the poet's health, sight, his anticipations, moods, fears, thoughts cannot be the same.
A. R. AmmonsRead
For though we often need to be restored to the small, concrete, limited, and certain, we as often need to be reminded of the large, vague, unlimited, unknown
A. R. AmmonsRead
Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank out other ways of seeing.
A. R. AmmonsRead
Similar quotes
We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect; we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore, the judgment of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy.
Carl JungRead
But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
John The ApostleRead
The fairest order in the world is a heap of random sweepings.
HeraclitusRead
Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value.
Ayn RandRead
I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.
Khalil GibranRead
You all know," said the Guide, "that security is mortals' greatest enemy.
C. S. LewisRead