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Ben (Cynicism, Part II)
Posted by Wallace+
Following up on Friday's post, with the poem "Ben":
First of all, did you get that Ben is a dog? I must confess that I was so drawn in by the figure of Ben, by "a vision of another way," by "the one who gives his life to simplicity seeking only the necessities so he can spend his days in the presence of his dreams," that Gena (my wife) had to point it out to me, after I had read the poem to her in a contemplative, joyous haze. (Yes, I was mildly, if discreetly, embarrassed.)
That I would miss that essential fact about the poem (that Ben is a dog!) is, I would think, the flipside of how viscerally and negatively I respond to cynicism; i.e., how I hunger so fervently for hope, and goodness, and kindness. And, truth be told, I think we all do; even if that hunger is, at times (moments, perhaps), supressed by cynicism, or some other such malady.
Secondly, and more obscurely, did you get the Greek pun? Cynicism, the word, comes from the Greek for "dog," a nickname for Diogenes, the cynic teacher, the appelation likely coming in turn from a gymnasium where the ancient cynics gathered, the building itself being named in turn for a mythical white dog. I didn't know any of that (or had forgotten it if I had known) before Senator Graham sent me off pondering.
Essential to "Ben" is, of course, the tension between the "cynicism" that the senator was speaking of, versus the ancient, philosophic cyncism. Needless to say, it is the former that I was speaking of in Friday's post, when writing about "the power of Darkness" and the destruction of the cosmos.
The older cynicism, the other "way" embodied by our friend Ben, and by, as David Budbill writes, Meister Eckhart, Chuang Tzu, Merton and many others over the ages, well, we and the whole of the cosmos certainly would and do benefit from more of that brand of cynicism.
Thank you, Senator Graham, for introducing me to Ben. And thank you, Ben, for your example.
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