Purpose

Human Life – Matthew Arnold

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Human Life

What mortal, when he saw,
Life's voyage done, his heavenly Friend,
Could ever yet dare tell him fearlessly:
"I have kept uninfringed my nature's law ;
The inly-written chart  thou gavest me,
To guide me, I have steer'd by to the end"?

Ah! let us make no claim,
On life's incognisable  sea,
To too exact a steering of our way;
Let us not fret and fear to miss our aim,
If some fair coast have lured us to make stay,
Or some friend hail'd us to keep company.

Ay! we would each fain drive
At random, and not steer by rule.
Weakness! and worse, weakness bestow'd in vain
Winds from our side the unsuiting consort rive,
We rush by coasts where we had lief remain;
Man cannot, though he would, live chance's fool.

No! as the foaming swath
Of torn-up water, on the main,
Falls heavily away with long-drawn roar
On either side the black deep-furrow'd path
Cut by an onward-labouring vessel's prore, 
And never touches the ship-side again;

Even so we leave behind,
As, charter'd by some unknown Powers
We stem  across the sea of life by night
The joys which were not for our use design'd;--
The friends to whom we had no natural right,
The homes that were not destined to be ours.

Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888)

When I first read this poem I was taken with the first stanza and thought about the words and interpreted the text according to my spiritual understanding of life. And gave my own personal meaning to the words inly written chart thou gavest me to be the purpose of my life given to me on the way I should live, in other words a spiritual connection made by the God within linked by Jesus. I must have been thinking about what a friend we have in Jesus. And it would be nice at the end of life to be able to have followed – I have steer’d by to the end.

But Matthew Arnold is articulating his mission in life defined by his gift as a writer. That inward pulse that he identifies as his purpose in life. The journey of life is likened to a ship ploughing through the sea. Life is incognisable; never knowing what we might experience. I remember those Beatle (John Lennon) words – Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans. The sea is quite a challenge depending on the weather.

An interesting word chosen for our journey we stem across the sea at night; implying becoming fruitful. Stem defined in the dictionary as – a  central part of something from which other parts can develop or grow or something that forms a support. So metaphoricaly it is all about finding out how we should blossom. Knowing our individual purpose and responding in order to be more than just a stem.

The last stanza emphasises ownership; in that life is not designed as a me-only event. It has a deeper and wider more purposeful intent. The mystery left unanswered.

As a side comment when John Lennon was asked as a child what he wanted to be he said one word happy. And I do believe that life was designed to be an enjoyable event. So whatever you do enjoy your day!

Matthew Arnold on Wikipedia – Matthew Arnold – Wikipedia

The Bright Field – R. S. Thomas – Analysis

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The Bright Field
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
R. S. Thomas (1913 – 2000)

R. S. Thomas was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest; so, it is not surprising that there are religious references. Moses and the ‘burning bush’ was the spectacular interaction where God defined the plan for Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. So, ‘The Bright Field’ could be considered, metaphorically speaking, that spectacular event in life that defines a personal focus to living.

The poem asks the reader to consider such personal turning points that define purpose. And to stay focus on that purpose, independent of a religious high being part of the equation. And to concentrate on the now; for indeed – life is not hurrying on to a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past.

And the sun breaking through has that latent son religious thought of a spiritual connection whether or not so glaringly stated as in the case of Moses and the burning bush.

It is nice to carry those ‘golden moments’ with us especially if they are of such significance that they define purpose and meaning to life! Especially to remind ourselves when we are overwhelmed by modern day lock-downs and stress; and to continue to follow our dreams regardless.

Enough of the didactic! … here is a special moment from my youth when I had the whole wide world before me (forgive the pun) …

Stopping One Day
I remember one day in June.
The height of summer and the sun
still rising on one of those days
that calls all nature into song.

Biking the back lanes of the Hampshire countryside.
Stopping on a bridge over a stream
the clear sparkling chatter below, while beyond
the fields praising their contentment.

Footnote …

It was one of those startling English summer days in June.  The sun stretching and all nature responded as I cycled down a country lane thinking of my future. I stopped on a narrow bridge over a little stream totally intoxicated with the joy of life.

On Wikipedia – R. S. Thomas – Wikipedia