The Promised Land Project: New York Times Editorial Link / The Relevance of the Promised Land Project

Turning Vision into Action....at least hypothetically

Strike up the music of the band
We're blazing a trail for the promised land
Heaven on earth is within you.

Through the writing of stories, poetry, essays, and a novel, I’ve creatively contended with the consumer culture and the problem of the ideal in the modern era. This preoccupation in time would lead to a vision of cultural transformation and where I believe our democratic society needs to go to truly progress beyond the modern era. Conceding my limited credibility, this blog provides a synthesis of recognized visionaries, poets, and writers with the objective of making a credible argument. Ultimately, it is a certain feeling the project strives to inspire and sustain on a certain level, making more vital use of poetry and the arts; consequently whether one agrees or not is less important than whether one senses it and feels it over time.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

New York Times Editorial Link / The Relevance of the Promised Land Project

Here's a link to a New York Times column by David Brooks that addresses a recently published book of philosophy. The Promised Land Project addresses many of these same issues but from the side of poetry.

Of particular note is the described collective dynamic called "whooshing up" (leave it to the philosophers to come up with that word) which I would describe as collective spirit. There is no mention of the human spirit, the poet's realm, which in my view reflects the divine law to love others as yourself, the ultimate "whooshing up" that can enable human salvation and world peace.

In this ancient argument between poetry and philosophy (i.e., mythos and logos), cited by Socrates in Plato's Republic, here's an opportunity for poetry to weigh in towards its resolution. Drawing on the mythos, I entitled this project "The Promised Land" to symbolize a collective vision, and to honor what may have been the country's last true prophet, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Moving into the New Year, I expect to be promoting "The Perfect Wave Project" to emphasize the regional arts with the suggestion that it may represent the wave of the future.