Following your heart
The conflict between wisdom and desire
Garlic and feathers mixed with wine
“What a wretch!” decries the Chef, of his sons design
With his reputation on the line, all is but fine
After all his prodigy too must walk this fine line
It is wisdom yet that you must mine
What is witchcraft and what is divine?
-Annyn Matheson (free form)
Today I had the tremendous pleasure of going out to coffee with a very mature and intelligent lady. Naturally within my person there was a matter of contention. Is it possible to date someone who is so ideologically and culturally different?
As a Canadian it is my belief that diversity in culture, brings about better introspection. That is to say that by seeing how other people live, we can better analyze how we live. I have often held Asian cultures in high regard for their loyalty to family. This is very different from my understanding of Western culture which focuses on you (the individual). It is from this diversity, along with many other influences that I have come to believe that we as individuals should not be the central focus of our lives.Rather we should think about how we impact and interact with people and things that we are most passionate.
So the fact that I culturally clash with the person of interest is not a problem within itself.
A clash of ideology is a huge problem. This is really where wisdom and desire come into play for me.Western culture says “do not intrude on someones religious or ideological stances. If you do you are arrogant.” So then do you ignore the deepest facet of your love interest in pursuit of them? Do you disengage? Do you conform to them? Do you let them conform to you?
Most people without a strong religious view would say follow your heart. Yet wisdom has told me one thing, when we break our own belief systems, our very fundamental philosophies, we despise ourselves ultimately to the doom of the relationship.
To disengage is what is recommended and urged by most friends and family. Yet this goes against Western culture that claims that we should chase what we want. That what we want is always right, if no one gets hurt. Ultimately someone will get emotionally hurt, whether through the suppression of beliefs or the final break of the relationship.
This conflict gave birth to my very odd poem. The poem talks about prodigy a chefs son. In an attempt to create something, he mixes feathers garlic and wine. Naturally this would probably not be considered edible (at least to my knowledge).
Being the son of the chef, the prodigy should know better. It is expected that he does know better. Yet in this creation he fails, to live up to standards.
Yet it is through our own experiences of doing something wrong, that we begin to understand that things are wrong. Therefore with age comes wisdom.
The final stanza declares that it is up to us, in the end to use the wisdom that we gain, to determine what is good and bad.
