I have a good head for most things when linear or logical thinking is required, but I use complex metaphors to process existential issues and different realities, using my right brain. I call those complex metaphors, poems.
My poems are fractal. None of my best poems is whole or finished, as you might say an Oliver or Frost poem is finished. That's not the point. My poems (which, again, are complex fractal metaphors) all have fractal edges which are very useful for processing a broken world in which there are realities that impinge upon my psychic space, realities that I cannot avoid or that I choose to explore. When I can manage to do it, i match the fractal edges of these broken or incomplete realities with the fractal edges of my poems. (I came up with this poetic theory on Monhegan Island which has its own fractal edges.)
With poetry, I can process different realities at a fairly sophisticated level. My "sand-blasted" poems are quintessentially fractal, but they are not easy to read, so I stick with slightly more conventional forms of fractal poetry which are somewhat narrative.
Why should this be of interest to anyone? Because it is mentally and emotionally exhausting to live in a broken world and some poetry can help with that.
The brokenness of the world, which includes the brokenness of world-views, is reflected in the art and poetry of the times, whether the art is a symptom of the brokenness or an intentional reflection of the brokenness. A good example is Cubism which spanned WW1 and Surrealism which flourished between WW1 and WW2. Some cubists and surrealists were just experimenting with an aesthetic while others were using their art to process a time of unprecedented upheaval.
A speculation on the future of AI: When computers (AI) go quantum I imagine they will be able to think holistically (it will be like they are processing with the right and left sides of the brain at once). When that happens, poets will be important for the functioning of society, which is a huge irony for me. I will not live to see if that happens.
Right now there are relatively few human beings who use their whole brains. They would have to be individuated and lucky because they would have to have lived into elderhood or at least well into middle-age. No one, as far as I know, is both individuated and young. There is Rumi, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Lao Tsu. These are the first that come to mind but I'm sure we could each come up with a few. There is Walt Whitman, Red Cloud, Rudolf Steiner, Ben Franklin, and Harry Belafonte. . . . (Would someone please suggest some women?) I think the test for whether someone is processing holistically is if their wisdom dovetails with the fractal edges of several realities simultaneously, or, in other words, cuts through duality. That makes a truly whole person.
(Article changed on Nov 15, 2024 at 7:18 AM EST)