You have to really dive deep back into yourself and get rid of

"You have to really dive deep back into yourself and get rid of so much modern analytical categorization. It's one of the great things poetry does." Robert Morgan’s words speak to an ancient truth about the nature of poetry: it calls us to return to a more primal place within ourselves, to a realm that lies beyond the constraints of the modern, analytical world. In an age where the mind is constantly divided into categories, classifications, and analyses, poetry offers a respite, a sanctuary where we can shed the rigid boundaries imposed by logic and instead reconnect with the soul, the emotion, and the spirit. Poetry is not about breaking the world into manageable pieces but about experiencing it as a whole—full, raw, and unfiltered.

In the ancient world, poets were not simply observers of the world; they were shamans who delved into the depths of the human condition. Think of Homer—his epics were not structured like the scientific texts of his time, nor were they bound by logic. Instead, they reached into the realm of myth, where gods and men interacted in ways that defied rational understanding. The Iliad and Odyssey were not exercises in categorization, but journeys into the heart of human experience, exploring love, honor, war, and destiny. Poetry, in its most ancient form, was a way of looking beyond the surface of things and into the mystery of existence. It was not an intellectual exercise but a spiritual one.

This idea of diving deep into oneself resonates with the teachings of the great philosophers and sages of antiquity. The oracle of Delphi famously declared, "Know thyself." This wisdom was not about understanding oneself through the lens of intellectual analysis, but through a deeper connection to the soul, to the inner voice that transcends the mind’s constant need to categorize and label. The philosopher Socrates, too, urged people to look within, to engage with life not through the mind's rigid rules but through the heart’s instinctive understanding. Poetry is an expression of this ancient desire to know oneself—not through cold reason but through the whispers of the spirit.

Consider the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, whose verses ask us not to categorize or define our experiences, but to live them fully, to embrace the unknown. In his Letters to a Young Poet, Rilke writes: "Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves." This is the essence of what poetry offers: the invitation to accept mystery, to live without needing to dissect and categorize every emotion or experience. Poetry teaches us that there is value in the unknown, in the things we cannot neatly fit into our minds’ tidy boxes. Through poetry, we learn to revel in the ambiguity and mystery of life, to appreciate the depths that lie beyond the logical.

What Robert Morgan speaks to here is the danger of living in an age where everything is broken down, dissected, and analyzed to death. The modern world has trained us to approach everything with a mindset of efficiency, to organize, categorize, and make sense of the chaos around us. While this has its place, especially in the world of science and technology, it limits our ability to fully experience life. When we approach poetry through the lens of rationality, we risk missing its true power. Poetry is not about creating clean categories; it is about feeling, about experiencing the world in all its complexity and richness, without the need for explanation or control.

The lesson here is profound: to reconnect with ourselves, to experience life in its full, unfiltered beauty, we must step away from the constant need to analyze, categorize, and define. Just as the ancient poets surrendered themselves to the flow of inspiration, so too must we surrender to the mystery of our emotions and experiences. Poetry reminds us that we do not need to have all the answers, that there is wisdom in the questions and in the unknown. It asks us to feel deeply, not just think deeply, and to trust that the world has meaning even when it defies the intellect’s grasp.

In practical terms, we can apply this wisdom by allowing ourselves to be immersed in the world without constantly trying to break it down into logical components. When we read poetry, let us not try to overanalyze every line, every word, but let ourselves feel the rhythm and the resonance of the poem. Let us not seek the rational meaning but the emotional truth that lies beneath the surface. In our daily lives, we should take moments to disconnect from the constant stream of analysis and instead embrace the raw, unfiltered experience of simply being. Let the world move through us without needing to categorize it. This is the wisdom that poetry offers—a path back to the soul, a return to the mystery and beauty that logic so often obscures.