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The Poetic Heart: Connecting Humanity
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[Justin Jin/Panos Pictures] |
What is poetry? When we feel the pangs of love or the sweep of
inspiration--the soft chafing of our exposed hearts against the textures
of the world--why are we more apt to express ourselves in a poem than in
a paragraph? The poetic heart reaches out, seeking expression and
connection. It is a heart that tries to cast a bridge between ourselves
and the world; and that bridge may be built by words, movement, color or
music. These expressions form the core of all human cultures and help
define our diversity and uniqueness, as well as showing us our
commonality.
The poetic heart, or spirit, is
synonymous with the spirit of peace. The loss of this spirit, this
sensitivity to life, describes the pathology of our ailing planet, the
apparent withering of our humanity. To nurture the poetic spirit in our
own lives is to nurture hope for the future.
This issue of the SGI Quarterly
celebrates the poetic heart, as it celebrates the 80th birthday this
month of SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, who has frequently called for the
restoration of the poetic sensitivity in us all.
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