“Discrimitive insight”
(viveka)
is the enemy of avidyā
and therefore the chief instrument
to disentangle us from
the force
of the gunas.
It cuts through tamas
and rajas
like a knife, opening the way
to realization
that the core of our identity
is separated
by
a
wide
gulf
from the continuous ebb
and
flow
of the tendencies that capture
the attention
of the usual individual
and are everywhere
regarded as pertaining to the
Self.
—
I have no idea what this is about. I tried a Read Write Poem prompt called Thirft Store, where you arrange found lines into a poem.
The basic strategy is to find a passage of prose, keep it exactly like you find it, but change the line breaks strategically to call emphasis to the aspects of the passage you find poetic.
I decided to get a book from my library that I haven’t read (yet) open it to a random page and grab the first two sentences my eyes fell on. This is from page 304 of Philosophies of India by Heinrich Zimmer.
The end result is more of an exercise in line breaking than an actual poem, but it’s a useful exercise, I think, since it allows me to experiment with creating the look of a piece with total objectivity rather than having to battle preconceived notions when adjusting the line breaks in one of my own poems.
So, here it is, for what it’s worth.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
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