Re: Melville's hangman (since today is not tomorrow)

>Letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851
>       On Metaphysics
>
>And perhaps after all, there is no secret. We incline to think that the
>Problem of the Universe is like the Freemason's mighty secret, so terrible
>to all children. It turns out, at last, to consist in a triangle, a mallet,
>and an apron, -- nothing more! We incline to think that God cannot explain
>His own secrets, and that He would like a little more information upon
>certain points Himself. We mortals astonish Him as much as He us.
>But it is this BEING of the matter; there lies the knot with which we
>choke ourselves. As soon as you say ME, a GOD, a NATURE, so soon
>you jump off from your stool and hang from the beam. Yes, that word is
>the hangman. Take God out of the dictionary, and you would have Him in the
>street.
>
>And finally: what about this last sentence?
>I understand it as Nietzsche's reversal of the Christian answer:
>'What must I do, in order to become blessed?' :
>Be blessed, and then do what you have to do.

yes, n maybe N read some of M, as he did Emerson, and inspired himself from
this very sentence, who knows?

>'Sei selig ...'  All is in that, comments H
>
>
>
>rene

BLESSED ARE...
(Words and Music by Joan Baez)

Blessed are the one way ticket holders
on a one way street.
Blessed are the midnight riders
for in the shadow of God they sleep.
Blessed are the huddled hikers
staring out at falling rain,
wondering at the retribution
in their personal acquaintance with pain.
Blessed are the blood relations
of the young ones who have died,
who had not the time or patience
to carry on this earthly ride.
Rain will come and winds will blow,
wild deer die in the mountain snow.
Birds will beat at heaven's wall,
what comes to one must come to us all.

For you and I are one way ticket holders
on a one way street.
which lies across a golden valley
where the waters of joy and hope run deep.
So if you pass the parents weeping
of the young ones who have died,
take them to your warmth and keeping
for blessed are the tears they cried
and many were the years they tried.
Take them to that valley wide
and let their souls be pacified.





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