Poetry

AI's "Scripture is Poetry"

Poetry is the use of language designed to elicit a purely emotional response rather than a rational one. It uses allegory and associations to conjure memories, produce novel thoughts, and convey the ineffable.

"The limerick packs laughs anatomical

Into space that is quite economical.

But the good ones I've seen

So seldom are clean

And the clean ones so seldom are comical"

-Limerick of Unknown Origin

Scripture is poetry. It is not meant to be taken literally. It often employs soaring, wonderous language that elicits inspiration and joy. Inspirational poetry seems a lot less worrisome than authoritarian dogma, but people have both perspectives about scripture.

Poetry is great for neuroplasticity, since it juxtaposes words and concepts that you would normally never encounter together to create meaningful metaphors and emotional connections.

You were born with potential.

You were born with goodness and trust.

You were born with ideals and dreams.

You were born with greatness.

You were born with wings.

You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.

You have wings.

Learn to use them and fly.

-Rumi

Jennifer Michael Hecht's book The Wonder Paradox: Embracing the Weirdness of Existence and the Poetry of Our Lives is an excellent guide to using beautiful secular poetry to create a sense of the sacred without invoking the supernatural. Here are some podcast interviews with her about it. [1][2][3]

• Poetry as Religion - Jennifer Michael Hecht on The Gray Area
• The Wonder Paradox Study Guide

I met a traveler from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

She advocates that each of us select some of our favorite poems to have on hand to help commemorate important occasions like anniversaries, funerals, and holidays with secular rituals. Poetry helps us say the things we can't easily express, especially when they involve powerful emotions. A reading can really help people embrace the importance and symbolic meaning behind the occasion.

Traveler, your footprints

are the only road, nothing else.

Traveler, there is no road;

you make your own path as you walk.

As you walk, you make your own road,

and when you look back

you see the path

you will never travel again.

Traveler, there is no road;

only a ship's wake on the sea.

-Antonio Machado

Maria Popova is another leading advocate of poetic naturalism. Her Marginalian blog is a must-follow for fans of science and poetry. The Universe in Verse is her annual celebration of science in music and poetry, which has been compiled into an excellent book.

Yale Divinity Bible Study: Psalms, The Psalms of Poetry

Famous Poets Reading Their Poems (64 Videos)

Rumi Poems (95 Videos)

The Illusion - Words of Baha'u'llah

The Wonder Paradox: A Study Guide

The Wonder Paradox was written in order to suggest a template for secular rituals that can substitute for the many holidays, life celebrations, and daily affirmations that religion provides. Since this is one of the primary goals of this wiki project, and most of the poems are in the public domain, much of the poetry used throughout this wiki has been borrowed from this book.

It makes an excellent book club read for secular groups, whose book clubs usually tend towards the more scientific and cerebral than the poetic. It offers a lot of fodder for discussion.

The Wonder Paradox Study Guide