Exp. 9

"If they call you," — "This is possibly the simplest expression of the underlying concept that I am not merely I.":

Thus I hope we may visualize for the reader the concept that his own personality extends throughout first, one other human, and then throughout the whole of all humanity. And now we take this visualization one step further, and extend it as well into the transcendental realm.

If this second part were interpreted pantheistically, then the picture of a rising sun, streaming through clouds above a lovely forest, and would have the words underneath it: "But if they call me,/speak."

If, however, the second part is interpreted iconically, then I would use an illustration of a deity symbol. Underneath this illustration, I would then reproduce the third and fourth lines of the poem: "But if they call me, /speak."

The hope here is to convey, not the identity of God and man in the iconic interpretation, but the basic reality that it is man who must eventually do God's work here on earth. Of course, here, as in all other puzzles, this will trigger off personal associations in the reader's mind, leading to interpretations and insights that we cannot foretell.

We simply give him less and less ambiguous raw material to work with, and we rely upon the inventiveness and depth of his own mind and feelings to then elaborate upon them.