Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Spirituality Quotes Page 3
(section.line)
| Quote #7 We descend upon you and all things – we arrest you all, |
Like a fighter pilot closing in our target, we've got those slippery "things" in our sights. The speaker suggests that understanding the world is a matter of perception – that is, of seeing things in the right way.
| Quote #8 You have waited, you always wait, you dumb, beautiful ministers! you novices! |
The speaker calls material things the true clergy – "ministers" and "novices" – of the spiritual world. For most of the poem, philosophical discussions like this one have been layered into the description of the view from the ferry. But here the spiritual element takes over completely. The physical world provides the "parts" – the building blocks – for traditional religious concepts like eternity and the Soul. This view would put the speaker at odds with many traditional Christian theologians, who would say that the soul exists apart from the world.
