7 Apr 2026

The Wages Of The Poetic

When my college friends and I felt the call to rowdiness, we’d amble down to the local pub which catered to undergraduate tomfoolery. Over tankards of draft, we indulged our witless activities, and proclaimed the following ditty, written by Henry Aldrich, a 17th century Oxford professor:

If all be true that I do think,
There are five reasons we should drink:
A friend, good wine, or being dry,
Or lest we should be by and by,
Or any other reason why.

Our college years were not entirely wasted. We learned that all life in the Universe communicates in some fashion. Puppies, petunias and, of course, mankind all have a unique system of communicating. This is especially true of humans: We cannot NOT communicate in many forms, such as literal and figurative language, symbols, images … on and on.

Eventually, we learned to appreciate language and its various uses -- metaphor, analogy, simile, myth, abstraction, local dialects and the endless forms by which people communicate.

We also learned that it takes decades to realize how few of us express ourselves objectively, how self-centered we become as we define reality only as we see it, how few people develop the traits of altruism and empathy, sure signs of adult maturity.

Uses Of Language

We learned that human communication centers around words and non-verbal actions; speaking, writing, reading and behavior are our tools. In our early grades, we learn to read. After we learn to read, then we read to learn … and we also read the behavior of others (both individuals and nations). Sometimes we say what we do not believe, but our behavior subtly contradicts our words. Observant people believe our actions, not our words. Why? Because behavior reveals intention.

Language offers all sorts of literary devices to convey or conceal one’s perceptions and one’s grasp of truth. Saint Augustine, for example, finally realized that even Scripture makes constant use of figures of speech, such as metaphors, analogies, myths and other expressive devices. Augustine admitted that, when he was young and read Scripture literally, he laughed at Christians because his arrogant ego blinded him to the richness of Biblical language and imagery; he missed the Message. He wrote: “My inflated pride shunned their style, nor could the sharpness of my wit pierce their inner meaning.”

Think about it: the styles and usages of language are endless. Twain and Chesterton, Kafka and Kierkegaard, Shakespeare and Winchell, Dante and Keats, Saints John and Paul all have their manner of sharing a vision of reality, of nudging us into their world, of sharing their views of our human condition, as we all do.

The message is clear: in the metaphors, images, myths and so on that our language uses extensively, we will find Truths which lead us to clarity … and profound gratitude.

Mysteries And The Poetic

As we strive for precision in our communication, we’ll admit (if we’re honest) that the wonders of Creation are utterly mysterious to us all. Once we get past the urge to have our egos assuaged and we settle down into a reflective mood, we realize the Mysteries of Creation are truly beyond our grasp, beyond our comprehension, logic and reason. And we realize that ordinary language is not sufficient to depict Creation’s Mysteries. In our efforts to convey our perceptions of these Mysteries, we soon find our everyday words inadequate; our literal language comes up short.

We then have recourse to an inner, deeper power – an inner ability beyond the vocabularies of logic and reason. This inner power is our gift of seeing or, better, of sensing and intuiting the Mysteries which underlie all reality, including ourselves.

This power is the gift of our poetic insight.

Our Poetic Powers

The word “poetic” comes from the ancient Greek word “poiesis” which refers to the process of bringing something into existence through imaginative, artistic, or intellectual efforts. The poetic process - poiesis - refers to the creative development of human knowledge and understanding, and is not limited merely to poetry.

Our poetic insight stimulates and enlivens our ability to perceive the Wonder and Beauty of Creation (both Divine and human). Poiesis lead us to understanding and insight beyond logic and reason through the gift of intuitive enlightenment which resides in our spiritual selves, in our soul. Our poetic sensibilities are, of course, sometimes expressed in the lyrical words of poetry and songs, but it is surely not confined to poems or rhymes.

In this expanded sense, our poetic powers extend into much human activity, such as medicine, literature, art, theology, music, architecture. For example, the art and science of medicine use extensive poetic language to describe the body’s creative processes.

Language Of The Spirit

Everyone instinctively seeks to understand the Mysteries of life and Creation. We want to know what life is all about. We seek truth. However, when religion employs poetic inspiration, problems predictably arise.

Professor Randall Smith points out that some people who are successful in other fields often judge religious attitudes as bizarre, even childish, “acceptable only to unsophisticated people who believe whatever they’re told, no matter how ridiculous.”

Skeptical critics also view the poetic language of Scripture as off-putting to sophisticated adults in today’s world of instant communication and constant data flow. Rarely do we ask ourselves: “What’s really happening here? What are the moral and spiritual outcomes of “progress” on me or my children?

So, while scoffers disparage realities which are not to their liking, the poetics of religion (call it the language of the Spirit) reveals that these realities really can’t be adequately expressed in ordinary, literal terms. Prof. Smith notes that some truths “transcend our normal, everyday ways of speaking and require a different mode of discourse.”

We normally read, listen and comprehend with our mind. Our mind is a grand gift which we constantly use, but the mind can also be prone to misunderstanding and error. Our intellect can mislead us, distort truth, exaggerate what we hear, lead us into needless conflicts, and an over-stuffed ego ignores most truths.

Poetics embraces a different form of reality than the mind allows. Why? Because poetics involves the language of the Heart and Soul as well as the language of the Spirit. It is the language of Faith, the complement to the gift of our free will.

Poetics reads, listens, comprehends and communicates truths which transcend our usual ways of communicating. It is here that the language of Faith transcends the insights of ordinary discourse and everyday usage. And it is here that we also begin to recognize God’s enormous gift of our Redemption.

Finally . . .

Skeptics find the language of Scripture and our words of worship foolish (as did St. Augustine). The Christian belief that God became a Man Who suffered death for each of us is absurd to the unbeliever. Skeptics may dismiss the endless list of documented miracles (e.g, Fatima, Lourdes) as the raving of hysterics. Indeed, many people doubt the validity of Redemption and the inherent value of the poetic language of the Spirit.

Poetics - the language of the Heart, the Soul and the Spirit - is a gift from our Creator to each of us. It is a gift given to us so that we may choose to respect and respond to God’s Eternal Mysteries which constantly abound around us – and within us.

Poetics and the life of prayer it spawns are both meant to ease our path to Heaven. These gifts are given to us so that we may realize that our Earth and our life are meant to be our stepping stones to a far greater Reality than our mind’s imagining alone will ever reveal to us … and poetics makes it so.

Should we not be most grateful …. eternally grateful?