Every living creature has a purpose, even if in our limited field of vision that is not at all clear. Whatever divine purpose endows us with our widely varied and often unique cosmic assignments cannot be fully known by even the whole of our impressive, yet still quite unevolved, species of mammal. We can often only approximate the entire truth of any happening; its effects may be clear, but its causes can be often hidden and possibly nearly infinite in nature. Whatever ideas we form will always be hopefully incomplete, even if they are more than adequate for our purposes.
Amelia Phoenix Desertsong
I still don’t know what I was smoking when I wrote the essays in Cloud Pieces. 😛
But, I realize now that I misspoke in the last sentence. Sadly, it’s already published this way in the book. Still, what I meant to say was this:
“Whatever ideas we form will always be incomplete, [no matter how hopeful they might be], even if they are more than adequate for our [own] purposes.”
I often reflect upon the wisdom imparted by my family friend and mentor, Allen Ginsberg, who once remarked that once a work is published, the opportunity for corrections is irrevocably lost. He advised that one must, therefore, forge ahead to create even greater and more precise works in the future. I find myself contemplating how he might perceive our contemporary information age, where digital publications can be revised post-release. This capability to edit published pieces would undoubtedly intrigue him, and I often ponder how it might have influenced his views on the permanence and evolution of literary work.