R.E. Slater - Damned Souls

Damned Souls

by RE Slater

I no longer see the world as it once appeared now that misery has come home and men appear more monsters [a'thirst] each other's blood.... And I, a miserable watching spectacle of wrecked humanity pitiable to others and intolerable to myself. - Mary Shelley, p.135

I rise from the grave to tell thee

a treachery far too long suffered,

curdling the blood, quickening the

heart; a treachery so foul as only

betrayal may give; striking upon

the stirred soul a great darkness

within, grasping demented hearts

held insanity's pitiable hate,

gripping one's greatest fears amid

the pummeling swales of black

night befouling awakening souls

desperate redemption.

By each treachery no fey reconcile

is met, nor payment made, til'

foul depravity is rooted out,

pulled forth, burnt to ash, in the

stark wake of day's light beheld

the soul's befouling stenches -

not unlike mine own darkest

demons striding the wretched

watches of hot sulfuric fumes

lit day and night, twilight and

morn, upon broken heart.

Nor may cursed rest so bless

the dead's shriveled souls their

befoulment ridden the cruding

airs silenced heaving breasts

across benighted, lurid breaths

become stillbourne like the

startled bursting song of lark's

winged rise 'oer glowing fields;

so all is bestilled before the

gathering grievous storms on

the latter days fixed incestuous

word and treacherous deed.

Foul words and deeds composed

in monstrous affinity attached all

beating breasts clapped upon

waggling tongues unquit their

larcenous words, their fell acts,

seated like rotting corpses 'neath

fawning crowns abusing, ruining,

all innocents their livelihoods.

Nor may stand pious sanctuaries

upon altars sacred requiems citing

the burning remains of irreverence

to memory's fallen appointments

having engaged the living dead

that revelled one's shames and lust

like night's wicked tendriled paths

'neath bawdy god, or goddess,

whose woeful incense befouls

the nostrils and gleaming eye,

lost all hope or recompense,

where once in the depths of time

twining paths might loiter among

the straggling tares, the suffocating

weeds, till naught grew apace alone.

Such abiding treachery as these

ill reputes, like demons crawling 

earth's terrestrial soils, unstopped

proud eyes, proud hearts, unfearing

nare God nor fated henchmen

bestriding the earth o'er rotting

hearts carrying no bliss nor heavenly

blessing, quit and free of haughty

imperious heaven's demands, but

bereft sole earthly paradise where

souls go to ruin without further

thought or moan or grief; having

abandoned selves to wicked world's

ways and cares, stricken divine

fellowship but only self love.

Damned souls armed hypocrisy's

best blames and curses, cloaking

the snarling miens of fallen men

in ruinous disappointment, falsely

bethinking what truly is required

is living well and happy for the day

with no thought on the morrow,

forsaking their fellow man be truly

well and happy as themselves.

Yea, crackles of lightning break

hot across deep night's lowing

thunders rumbling the deepening

pales and wooded bowers fixed

the sizzling atmospheres cowering

coming storm's reach and draw.

Herewith lie villainous sneers

of many a treacherous soul

beholding their ruined vanity,

bethinking themselves sculpted

Adonais or mighty Zeus, become

tragic Oedipus etched the weary

limestone halls of languorous

beauty; deigning any worthy

work but this life's fleshly offers

of chance atonement in fated

world long ago lost its fortunes.

Lost eons earlier in Adam's first

fall begun on a newborn day

filled with endearing promise

till all crashed by feeble hand

reaching understanding - but

not of wisdom, of self; as quickly

covering naked body in remorse,

not penitence; become broken,

unhealing souls always discontent

impotent at rejoining  self with

self lulled wings of betrayal for

lost realms of glitter and gold.

R.E. Slater

July 21, 2024

edited July 25, 2024

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

R.E. Slater - Questions I Ask Myself When Nobody is Listening (a poem)

Religion by Charles Sprague Pearce

What is Apophatic Verse?

It seems the Internet did not wish to answer my question as to what apophatic verse might be. What I got were thoughts on negative theology rather than poetic verse which, I suppose, was on target if "verse" were taken to be referring to Bible verses.

Yet, this was not what I wanted when searching the Internet. And yet, in a skewed, sideways sort of mention, I suppose my query might have unconsciously asked how "Spirit" and "spirit" might coexist between my God and my heart.

As example of this latter mention, when positively declaring "God is infinite" one might redress the topic apophatically - that is, in negative rephrasing - by saying, "God is not finite." Even so, this was neither my question of the Internet nor how I normally wish to come to God's Person or Personage in negative address.

And yet, curiously, in it's reply the Internet went a bit further when expanding on the tangential subject of apophatic prayer - of which question I definitely was neither asking, nor seeking, nor even considering such a reply.... even so, I continued my sideways glance, focusing on the wayward paragraph then reading it finding my heart warmed in a way only the Spirit might do on so late an eve as I quietly read for a third time the Internet's serendipitous contemplation:

What is Apophatic Prayer?

Answered negatively, "Kataphatic" prayer has content using words, images, symbols, and ideas; whereas "Apophatic" prayer has no content. It simply means emptying the mind and heart of restless words and thoughts to find oneself simply resting in the presence of the God in prayerful reflection. Restated,... a centering prayer may be apophatic in result.

R.E. Slater

May 15, 2024

*What is apophatic mysticism? Apophatic mystics claim that nothing positive can be said about objects or states of affairs that they experience. These are absolutely indescribable, or “ineffable.” Thus, apophatic theology typically will be negative theology — meaning, we may only say what God is not. - SEOP: Mysticism

* * * * * *

Francesco Botticini, The Assumption of the Virgin (c. 1475; detail)

Questions I Ask Myself

When Nobody is Listening

by R.E. Slater

Sitting in absence wishing it were not so,

    is unlike sitting in want finding I have no needs.

On a day when my heart is broken,

    only then can it be made whole.

So too is curiosity a curious thing -

    but so is satisfaction when unmet.

There is fullness in every new day,

    yet by nightfall I find myself empty.

When mind and heart restlessly struggle,

    in God's presence I find stillness.

Can the way of the bee and the ant teach anything?

    Or is it foolishness which cannot be taught?

If it is true that a good ploughhorse requires a field,

    then a good student should require a good teacher.

When parents fail whom do they turn to?

    Or, when turning, find none to help.

I cannot say whether Time is a mystery or an illusion,

    though I believe both are true of relationships.

There is also mystery in each new day,

    but by day's end all seems known.

"Can a true thing be less true?" I ask myself.

    And if so, were it never true at all?

Too, can a false thing teach truth?

    ... Perhaps so, when discovering my own error.

Daily chores seem a burdensome imaginary,

    until unmet, then finding they were never imaginary.

Of thoughtful questions there seems no end,

    but upon reflection they seem never asked.

Might salvation be found before one is fallen?

    Or must one fall to be found?

         ... Life lessons are oftimes hard.

Similarly, if one is found had a fall occurred?

    Or was it I who needed most to be lost?

Testimony always seems right when utter,

    but in hindsight, it holds many a cruelty.

A faithful witness, like one's love,

     is most needed when spoken timefully.

To waste a day is to lose more than a day,

    but in truth, many days are just as well lost.

If one's heart goes unheeded,

    does it sour in remiss?

And if one's heart is heeded,

    does the errant day run brighter?

Most days seem futile though, in hindsight,

    they were as necessary as the air we breathe.

A good prose poem blends seamless to the hour,

    even as the wayward hour expires when unnoticed.

Age looks back on youth seeing wonder, miracle,...

    yet youth, looking to age, has yet to comprehend.

R.E. Slater

March 26, 2023

Note: An experiment in apophatic poetry

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

R.E. Slater - Everyday Attitutdes

EVERYDAY ATTITUDES

"Being is as much about Becoming

as Becoming is about Being." - R.E. Slater

Process Living is:

upLifting and uniting,

motivating and encouraging,

being and becoming...

bearing all things,

being all things,

becoming all things...

abiding all people,

reviving all relationships,

surviving all difficulties...

when pursuing faith,

overcoming obstacles,

suffering as Grace...

in sacrifice and service,

with diligence extended,

abiding, staying, doing...

reclaiming and redeeming,

renewing and resurrecting,

regenerating all about...

everyone,

everything,

everywhere,

ever and ever...

---

process amplification

is singing, throbbing,

all around and in us,

across heaven and earth,

hearts and lands,

about, within, and from us,

unstoppable,

instoppable,

withheld no hand,

no soul, no land,

we are... as creation is...

as life and death are,

immortal wonders,

are, and are becoming...

R.E. Slater

December 15, 2023

revised December 19, 2023

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

Quotes & Sayings by

Alfred North Whitehead

AZQuotes

Wikipedia - Alfred North Whitehead OM FRS FBA (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He created the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology.

In his early career Whitehead wrote primarily on mathematics, logic, and physics. He wrote the three-volume Principia Mathematica (1910–1913), with his former student Bertrand Russell. Principia Mathematica is considered one of the twentieth century's most important works in mathematical logic, and placed 23rd in a list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the twentieth century by Modern Library.

Beginning in the late 1910s and early 1920s, Whitehead gradually turned his attention from mathematics to [the] philosophy of science, and finally to metaphysics. He developed a comprehensive metaphysical system which radically departed from most of Western philosophy. Whitehead argued that reality consists of processes rather than material objects, and that processes are best defined by their relations with other processes, thus rejecting the theory that reality is fundamentally constructed by bits of matter that exist independently of one another. Whitehead's philosophical works – particularly Process and Reality – are regarded as the foundational texts of process philosophy.

Whitehead's process philosophy argues that "there is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have consequences for the world around us." For this reason, one of the most promising applications of Whitehead's thought in recent years has been in the area of ecological civilization and environmental ethics pioneered by John B. Cobb.

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Religion is the vision of something which stands beyond, behind, and within, the passing flux of immediate things; something which is real, and yet waiting to be realised; something which is a remote possibility, and yet the greatest of present facts; something that gives meaning to all that passes, and yet eludes apprehension; something whose possession is the final good, and yet is beyond all reach; something which is the ultimate ideal, and the hopeless quest.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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The purpose of education is not to fill a vessel but to kindle a flame.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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The misconception which has haunted philosophic literature throughout the centuries is the notion of 'independent existence.' There is no such mode of existence; every entity is to be understood in terms of the way it is interwoven with the rest of the universe.

- Alfred North Whitehead, (2014),

“Science and Philosophy”, p.54, Open Road Media

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Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.

- Alfred North Whitehead. Alfred North Whitehead, David Ray Griffin (1978), “Process and reality: an essay in cosmology”, Free Pr 

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The total absence of humor from the Bible is one of the most singular things in all literature.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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If a dog jumps into your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.

Alfred North Whitehead, Lucien Price (2001), “Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead”, p.183, David R. Godine Publisher

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It takes an extraordinary intelligence to contemplate the obvious.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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After you understand about the sun and the stars and the rotation of the earth, you may still miss the radiance of the sunset.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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The worship of God is not a rule of safety - it is an adventure of the spirit, a flight after the unattainable.

- Alfred North Whitehead,
1925 Science and the Modern World

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Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic

thought has done its best, the wonder remains.

- Alfred North Whitehead (1968),

“Modes of Thought”, p.168, Simon and Schuster

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Not a sentence or a word is independent of the circumstances under which it is uttered.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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Great people plant trees they'll never sit under.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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There are no whole truths: All truths are half-truths.

- Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues prologue (1954)

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Fundamental progress has to do with the reinterpretation of basic ideas.

- Alfred North Whitehead (2014),

“Science and Philosophy”, p.142, Open Road Media

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The foundations of the world are to be found, not in the cognitive experience of conscious thought, but in the aesthetic experience of everyday life.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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Everyone is a philosopher. Not everyone is good at it.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.

- Alfred North Whitehead (1967),
“Aims of Education”, p.37, Simon and Schuster

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We think in generalities, but we live in detail.

- Alfred North Whitehead 2014),

“Science and Philosophy”, p.20, Open Road Media

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In a certain sense, everything is everywhere at all times. For every location involves an aspect of itself in every other location. Thus every spatio-temporal standpoint mirrors the world.

- Alfred North Whitehead (1997),
“Science and the Modern World”, p.91, Simon and Schuster

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There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays to the devil.

- Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues prologue (1954)

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When you're average, you're just as close to the bottom as you are the top.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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How the past perishes is how the future becomes.

- Alfred North Whitehead (1967),

“Adventures of Ideas”, p.238, Simon and Schuster

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The foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity.

- Alfred North Whitehead (1967),
“Aims of Education”, p.14, Simon and Schuster

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I consider Christianity to be one of the great disasters of the human race... It would be impossible to imagine anything more un-Christianlike than theology.

- Alfred North Whitehead

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There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated

processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices

and actions have consequences for the world around us."

- Alfred North Whitehead

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"I imagine we will have to apply for a Royal Grant."
- ANW to Bertrand Russell

Whitehead papers are now available online
- Whitehead Research Project

R.E. Slater - To the Unknown God

To the Unknown God

of Radical Love

by R.E. Slater

"What therefore you worship as unknown

this I now proclaim to you." Acts 17.23

Yes, I said to my Christian friend,

I will fellowship with you, and

with the Church, and in the church

    even when away or absent it's pews

    in heart and body but not in soul

    where God lives in me and I in Love.

But I also thought to myself,

No, I can no longer find sympathy

nor fellowship with my faith,

    for I seek another God...

    a God not of the church...

    a God unlike the church....

A God where the church may

find itself at times, but not where

God might find himself oftentimes

    when worshipped as unloving

    judgmental, wrathful; an absent

    Divine unattached to humanity.

This God I seek is a God of Love,

who offers service to the other,

who is against self-serving empires,

    and against empire-like religions

    holding human worth as a crime

    when unlike its own rules.

There is a kind of fellowship I seek

where I might find God's people,

but another kind of fellowship

    another kind of space whereby

    I might find all of God's people

    linked in love and loving fellowship.

The God I seek is the unknown God,

Unknown to us in so many ways,

but not in the ways of presence,

    ministry, advocacy, caregiving,

    promise, nor love; this God is the

    God I yearn to know, to be one.

R.E. Slater

May 21, 2023

Ref: RCPT2

* * * * * *

To the Unknown God

of Radically Lived Theology

by R.E. Slater

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and whoever loves

is born of God, and knoweth God. Dear friends, let us continue to love

one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of

of God and knows God. - 1 John 4.7-8

I am no longer embraced by

what I once was embracing,

The dismay too great,

the hurt too much.

God's church lost in empire,

lost in translation, in mission

and ministry, abandoning

what once I needed, I craved.

Not in what it was, but

by what it once promised,

Once my finis coronat opus, like

Christ's, declaring God's finished work.

Ever unfinished it's continuing work

but completed God's work of Love,

His lovingcare and mercy, mended

forgiveness in Loving relationship.

Till at last there is no longer

work to be done, but joy and

peace ever present sealing

heaven's loving presence.

Sealed it's founding promises

released to its gapping potentials,

Become what it was becoming,

Embracing the God indwelling.

R.E. Slater

May 22, 2023

Ref: RCPT4

*finis coronat opus - the goal gives

value to the labor; the end crowns

the work that produced it.