Living Logos – (TSK & Poetry)

Photo courtesy of: ‘Dense’ by Mikael Jarnasen – Flickr

A dictionary meaning of Logos is, “the rational principle that governs and develops the universe”, some synonyms are ‘World Reason’ and ‘world principle’. Another description is…

“More fundamental than the governing principles and premises of the prevailing ‘order’, the ‘logos’ founds the ‘order’, determining what can appear and in what ways, setting limits and ‘measuring out’ possibilities. Thus the ‘logos’ might be characterized by how it presents time, space, and knowledge. Whatever is ‘true’ (and even indisputable) in terms of the temporal order derives its truth from ‘conforming’ to the ‘logos’. The knowledge inherent in the ‘logos’ unfolds in a certain way, and ‘reality’ follows suit. As the ‘founder’ of the prevailing ‘order’, the ‘logos’ operates in all aspects of being, giving the ‘realness’ of the real.

…Codes of conduct, means of inquiry, and laws of nature all ‘embody’ the knowledge of the ‘logos’ in a way that determines the structure of both the known world and its knower…Once adopted, certain of these structures are identified as absolute, in the sense of being presupposed in all acts of knowing. The initial attribution of knowledge to a self, the existence of self and world…Conventional knowledge is an expression of the world or ‘order’ within which it arises, and would change if that ‘order’ changed…

The knowledge ‘of’ the ‘logos’ shapes the possible like a parent transmitting genetic coding to the next generation. It gives form to time and space, like an architect directing a builder in how to utilize construction materials…”
‘Knowledge of Time and Space’, by Tarthang Tulku, p. 411-2, (1987, Dharma Pub.)

In Ken’s poem below, no matter how hard things seem now, it’s the open possibility at the edge of the future, the point where the future takes form in the moment…it’s that openness, from which all possibilities are spawned. It’s this moment in the continuum that Ken is pointing to, in my opinion.

“The humble moment, when seen as time, space, and knowledge, is a target worth aiming at. It’s the vital center of the universe; if we hit it, we explode everything that prevents fulfilment, attaining everything that fulfills.” Tarthang Tulku
‘Inside Knowledge’ p.67 (2015, Dharma)

This Day’s Logos
By Ken McKeon

Sing-song sorrow ways
Float on in this morning

Dull weight builds on the brow,
Touch to ease,
But it won’t leave,
It stays,
And the gut tightens,
And my work slows,

And, ordinarily calm,
I’m ready to scream,
And the low thudding
Of the dishwasher
Intensifies,
The same with its gurgling,
Louder harsher awful scrunching.
It will be the same
When the load is done.

And I am alone
And useless.

I tell myself to do something,
I say sure, but I don’t mean it.

I don’t mean anything today.
Not a speck, not a wrinkle,
But I bet something shows up
That will flat out knock me down.

The dishwasher begins to whistle,
That’s a start.