No one sees the world in its entirety; we all have an idea of the world, or an imaginative construct of the world. What can be problematic is that our world view is inextricably tied to our sense of self and our sense of group identity. It can impair our ability to confront the truth. Plato's famous allegory of the cave -- a very poetic device, I might add -- in his Republic, I believe, speaks to this predicament. Employing the logos as we attempt to reason through our different world views can have limited affect and cause disengagement because it carries a threat of being invalidating and simply, destabilizing.
By drawing on the mythos and framing it poetically yet truthfully, we can provide an invitation difficult to refuse, or difficult from which to disengage. This poetic approach in the use of symbol, metaphor, narrative and interjected with the arts can promote a collective vision (hence, "the promise land") capable of crashing through, overriding, and incorporating the personal vision. I call this a vision of the perfect wave. Because, if it is the truth, people eventually will adjust their lives because inherently they will desire their lives to be a part of the solution rather than remain part of the problem. But the key words here are eventually and inherently. Such a vision would have to be promoted deeper than the level of reason to the level of the poetic, thus drawing on the arts. It must strive to inspire and provide validatation. Reading Whitman's "Song of Myself," as it attempts to do just that, it's understandable why we set out on the Whitman trail.
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