Meditation
There are moments of insight when we have clarity about things that previously seemed overwhelmingly complex. These are marvelous moments, when problems almost solve themselves. We find the slip of paper, and the secret key is there. But much of the time, the slip of paper is in a language we don’t know—we feel that the key is there, but it’s hard to discern what exactly will open the lock. This poem by Tadeusz Dabrowski pivots on the implication that the key that liberates is also the key that imprisons. When is the sentence that illuminates the world also that which sentences us to a restricted view of the world? And when does our obsession with finding the key to things blind us to the freedom we already have? There is wisdom in not knowing.
Todd Breyfogle, Denver, Colorado
