Absence

The via negativa...

Via negativa or Via negationis (Lat., ‘way of negation’). Realization that since God is not a universe or an object in a universe, ‘he’ is not open to observation or description. It follows that God can only be spoken of analogically or poetically; and that it is easier to say ‘what God is not’ rather than what God is. This awareness occurs, in different forms, in all theistic religions, e.g. in ein-sof, bilā kaifa, neti neti, nirguṇa-brahman. This is apophatic, as opposed to kataphatic theology.

Absence

Today, I'm absent.
I do not sit in this seat.
I deny presence.
I have no purpose
For being gone, but gone I am.
I would be here now
If I was but, no,
I am not here, not waiting
And not writing this.

Written, January 18, 2009 9:08 AM
First Posted, June 21, 2009

To introduce this poem and one other in the original post, I wrote in part:

A man I love gave a talk one time and he pointed out that when my distress is mainly mental, or even when it is physical at least the mental component can be dealt with by focusing the time frame. He said that there is really nothing wrong right now. He said whenever there is mental distress it is either coming from the future or the past and if I narrow my time frame to right now my pain will be already over or not yet here. In other words it is so often true that there is nothing wrong right now.