Unity

E. Shaun Russell (e_shaun@uniserve.com)
Mon, 25 Nov 1996 10:05:26 -0800 (PST)

Before I get to the reason of this post, I must say how nice it is
to see the latest written artwork\poetry that has been appearing much more
frequently on this list. I urge everyone who has any presentable artwork to
present it...both to the list and anywhere possible. This is one sure way
of increasing people's interest and knowledge of our philosophy. As I said
in a post about six weeks ago, if the average person sees artwork that they
like, they are bound to query it and look into it further. There are
millions upon millions of people who would warm to extropy and transhumanism
if it was presented to them...art is a great way to do this.

Anyway, here is the crux of the post --a poem I wrote about a week
ago. It was heavily inspired by a poem by T.S. Eliot called "The Hollow
Men". When reading this poem, please look at the last two lines in relation
to the whole poem; the lines on their own could appear to hold some
semblance of mysticism. Enough rambling...

UNITY

I was a young man of eighty-two
When Death took my love from me,
I asked where she did go,
He replied: "o'er the sea";
With nary a second glance
The two, they disappeared,
And I doggedly made a vow
That I would cheat the force I feared;
Determined, I set my plans
To live an eternity,
Invested in many kinds
Of extension technology;
When I reached one hundred and five
I saw immortality on the brink,
Machines to help me live,
Computers to help me think;
Gradually I was restored
To the equivalence of youth,
With my consciousness unimpaired
And the knowledge of a simple truth;
At the age of one forty-six
I am really only a child,
With so much more to learn,
My Life has me beguiled;
My love has long been dead,
Long been o'er the sea,
But the memory of her Life
Forever lives inside of me
For I know I have cheated Death,
Beat Him at His own game,
I have seen the beautiful truth:
Death and Life are one and the same

By: E. Shaun Russell

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~~~:~~~> E. ternity E. Shaun Russell
:~~> E. xpansion e_shaun@uniserve.com
:~~~> E. xtropy Extropian poet\musician

-"Outward is the only place to go that is not bound"-
From "Verging On A Brink"
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