I always think that we write praises or advice to our friends when we are young. Even if we live longer than our friends, we will continue and revise the topics we started before the age of 25. Forty years ago, a group of young people met in London and discussed mysterious philosophy in Paris. Maybe that's why I wrote this book. You make everyone envy your beauty, knowledge and mysterious talent. Although I haven't seen you for more than 30 years when writing the first draft of my dedication, I don't know your whereabouts or what you are doing. Although many things have happened since we copied the names of 72 gods in the Jewish History of Mashanluf in Hebrew, obviously I must dedicate this book to you. Our former friends or friends of friends are dead or alienated. When Florence Farr was nearly 50 years old, she made a decision that we never dreamed of: in order to learn oriental thoughts, she went to a local school in Sri Lanka as an English teacher. Then she died there. Another friend has become a monk. A traveler I know met him in a temple in Myanmar more than ten years ago. Another friend experienced a strange adventure, perhaps the strangest-platonic spiritual love. When he was a child, the nanny told him, "An angel leaned over your bed last night!" " "17 years old, woke up at night and saw the ghost of a belle by the bed. Soon he was keen on all kinds of love adventures until he was about 50 years old-when he was still full of physical strength-and he thought, "I only need God, not women. "Later, he fell in love with a beautiful young girlfriend. Although only through the most painful struggle can he restrain his lust, he still lives with his girlfriend in a pure spirit. They do this not out of prejudice-I think they have no prejudice-but out of a clear understanding that some things can only be obtained by seemingly unnecessary trampling on life. Later, she died. He lived for a while, saw her ghost, and gained some traditional experiences of saints through her. He is my best friend. If he were still alive, I would ask him to accept the dedication of this book, although I don't expect him to be satisfied with it. Because in the second half of his life, he only cares about a very simple piety. I remember that all of us are different from ordinary students of philosophy or religion, because we believe that truth can not be discovered, but can only be revealed; I believe that if a person does not lose faith and make some preparations, then inspiration will come to him at the right time. A brass foundry worker in the north of England often visits us. He believes that there will be a moment every year that will bring "the best" and "the stone of the wise". Because it is obvious that there must be a communication tool and symbol, some people think that the messenger will be recognized by himself, such as on the train, or found far away after being searched. I think at that time we were full of illusions handed down from generation to generation, but now it is an interpretation, a rural folklore. That fantasy didn't explain the world for our very modern reason, but it awakened some forgotten meditation methods, mainly how to stop the will, make the thought automatic, and become a possible tool to communicate with ghosts. It leads us to the path of change, and we have learned to call it that.
two
Some people are looking for spiritual happiness or some unknown power, but I have a practical idea. I long for an ideological system that can liberate my imagination, let it create at will, and let what it has created or will create become a part of history and a part of the soul. The Greeks must have had such a system, and so did Dante-although Boccaccio thought he was a bitter partisan and a modern abstract man-I don't think anyone has had such a system since him. When I stopped all active exploration but didn't stop my desire, I got the material on which this book was based. I finally got what I needed, but these materials may have come too late. I really didn't find anything new. I'll prove later that Swedenburg and Blake. Many people before them have understood that everything has its own spiral; But Swedenburg and Blake like to use metaphors to explain it, so I am the first person to explain it with characters in the Bible or mythology, men and women in historical movements and actions.
three
Sometimes I am ecstatic, just like when I wrote Night of All Souls, but sometimes I think of my ignorance of philosophy, and I wonder if I can let others share my excitement. I am most afraid of disappointing those readers. They read this book out of love for my poetry. I advise them not to read the chapter "The Great Ship" or the second volume at all. They'd better browse the poems in the book and my comments on life and history. On the other hand, my former friends may only read specialized and explanatory parts. Thoughts without action are nothing, but if they are willing to master the most abstract part of the book and use it as the basis of their fantasy, then the curtain may be lifted and a new drama may be staged.
I dare say that I will enrich this book, perhaps extremely rich. If I leave this book for another year, I haven't fully discussed my topic or even touched on the main part. I haven't written about "Elysium", only a little. But I really want to print this book, otherwise I will probably write some more poems to supplement it. If I have the energy, I can find simplicity that I have never found. I don't need to write poems like Moon Phase and Self-control You anymore, and I don't want to waste my time trying to replace my drama with abstract ideas. I've done this three or four times.
four
I believe that one day I will finish what I started. Now my imagination falls on Bao Si Mather's Arabian Nights, which is still waiting for me at home. I want to forget the wisdom of the East and only remember its profundity and romance. But when I walk on the cliffs where Augustus and Tiberius once walked, I understand that this strong emotion, which seems to enter everything that can be seen and touched, comes not from the reaction of wisdom, but from wisdom itself. Yesterday, I saw a withered vineyard by the sea. I removed the brown vines from the thin soil on the edge of the cliff. At the intersection, I saw orange forest and lemon forest with heavy fruits, as well as crimson cactus flowers. I feel the warm sunshine falling from the blue room and whispering silently, just as I have whispered countless times: "I will always be a part of it, maybe I can't get rid of it, forget my life, return to life and continue to circulate, just like an insect in the grass roots." There is no fear or even ecstasy when whispering.
(translated by Simon)
Precautions:
This book: refers to the author's book "Illusion-Reading Life", with this article as the preface.
Swedenburg (1688— 1772): Swedish physicist and religious writer.
Blake (1757— 1827): English poet and printmaker.
Augustus (63 BC-BC 14): The first emperor of Rome.
Tiberius (42 BC-37 BC): Emperor of Rome.
Make an appreciative comment
This poem was dedicated by Ye Zhi, an Irish poet and playwright, to Kea in West. Who is Vestey Kea? Friends, relatives and lovers of the author? Or a mentor? Neither. "This name is difficult to verify. It may be the name invented by Ye Zhi." Ye Zhi's research experts explained this in the editor's note. This "Vestey Kea" is not a real person. Is it Ye Zhi's spiritual partner? Maybe we can find some clues in the last poem of Illusion: Night of All Souls. "Midnight arrival, the bells of the Christian church,/and many Jason Chung, echoed in the room; /This is the night for all souls/... The first person I mentioned is X. He likes grotesque ideas/knows the boundary between pride and sweetness/is called Platonic love,/his enthusiasm is so strong ... "Ye Zhi once again reproduces the female teacher who teaches in Sri Lanka and a Platonic friend in love in the form of poetry.
This is Ye Zhi's dedication to his magnum opus Illusion-Reading Life. In Dedication, Ye Zhi expressed his creative motivation and thinking content: "I long for an ideological system that can liberate my imagination and make it create at will, so that what it creates or will create becomes a part of history and a part of the soul." Ye Zhi is not a philosopher, but he thinks about philosophical problems in a poet's unique way and emotion. In Illusion, he described the development of human beings and history with his unique poetic wisdom and imagination. He linked ancient wisdom with modern symbols, and discussed the historical cycle, human psychology and the purification and transformation of the soul by human death.
It is necessary for us to know about the masterpiece Illusion here. The great ship and the spiral are two main images in illusion. Ye Zhi used the ship to illustrate the four functions that constitute the characteristics of human body-will, creating mind, body and destiny mask, and the relationship between them. The illustration of "The Great Wheel" aims to reveal the interaction of four functions: when the will is dominant, there is a strong desire, and the "mask" or "image" gives people a sense of texture; When it is dominated by creative thinking, it is abstract; When the "mask" dominates, the image becomes concrete again. The Great Ship takes 24 months as the stage, and each event has its own will, creative mind, destiny body and mask, as well as its own representative figures. The corresponding transformation in different stages constitutes the rotation of life and the cycle of history. It is this unknown force that makes people seek spiritual happiness in the constant change of opposites. "Spiral" is another symbol of Ye Zhi's description of historical development. Ye Zhi believes that history develops in a spiral, from the top to the edge. When the spiral develops to the maximum, it not only marks the end of one era, but also marks the beginning of another spiral, that is, the beginning of another era. When the cone represents ordinary life, we name its narrow end, that is, the unexpanded spiral, "human qi"; And give it a wide end, that is, an unfolded spiral, and name it "cosmic qi". "We use this cone instead of another cone, one of which is the connection between mind and destiny, and the other is the connection between mind and destiny. After creating restrictions, the initial action of life seems to be to divide itself into men and women, each with the other's life as death and each with the other's death as a living. " Therefore, Ye Zhi found his own ideological system and used his unique way of thinking to understand life and history. He said with ecstasy, "I will always be a part of it. Maybe I can't get rid of it, forget life, return to life and continue to cycle, just like an insect in the grass roots."
Ye Zhi regards illusion as his tool to realize truth: "Because we believe that truth cannot be discovered, but can only be revealed;" I believe that if a person has not lost faith and made some preparations, then enlightenment will come to him at the right time. " When the will stops and creative thinking dominates, "thinking becomes automatic and becomes a possible tool to communicate with ghosts". "It will lead us to the path of change", and we will go further to the truth.
In this dedication, the image of ghosts or ghosts was mentioned many times. Plato's friend who fell in love with the spirit once met a ghost, and the copper caster also showed sincere faith at the moment of perfection. In "Magic", Ye Zhi wrote "Night of All Souls" as the last poem with ghosts as the leading role. Here, Ye Zhi gave the ghost a unique mission: "That fantasy didn't explain the world for our very modern reason, but it awakened some forgotten meditation methods, mainly how to stop the will, automate the thought and become a possible tool to communicate with the ghost." This is "changing lanes".
According to Ye Zhi, dreams are communication between the awake and the dead. When a ghost wakes up after death, he has a "ghost self". Whether this self is recognized or not, it is the embodiment of the eternal self. Our sleep is like entering the life between life and death. Before the conscious mind can change the dream, we will find that the image in the dream is replaced immediately. These replaced images can be called "images from the universe, and we have some personal contact with ourselves".
Whether the birth of artistic inspiration or the replacement of dream world is the communication between life and death. Here Ye Zhi once again mentioned "automatic thinking". This concept was inspired by his wife. In the preface of Illusion, Ye Zhi once said, "19 171on the afternoon of October 24th, the fifth day after my marriage, my wife began to try to write automatically". "A person who struggles with himself can achieve perfection; A person who struggles with the environment can also achieve perfection. " His wife used a series of geometric symbols to support her classification of two kinds of perfection, and arranged them neatly to answer the questions raised in Ye Zhi's prose. This prompted Yeats to express his thought of "changing lanes" with a changing geometric spiral.
In a word, Ye Zhi's illusion contains his complicated thoughts about the universe, history, life and death, and Dedication is a key to understand Ye Zhi's complicated thoughts.
(Wang Yuanyuan)