Emily and Me.

I must say that I haven’t yet got back into the swim of blogging but I want to say this because I consider it important.

Around sixteen years ago I was badly stricken by a severe case of the Brontë bug, especially with regard to Emily and her only novel Wuthering Heights. I made a number of notes covering significant dates, and also copied out some of Emily’s poetry. I came to believe that I understood Emily and her novel better than the countless creators of cinematic and other spin-offs ever did, and I wrote an essay on the subject which can be found at the other site. I particularly noted that many critics and academics accused dear Em of having had a ‘death wish’, which I didn’t entirely disagree with in general, but with which I deeply disagreed with regard to the reason for, and detail of, that wish. And I have to admit that I paid scant attention to the poetry, mostly because much of it went over my head.

Since then I’ve been consumed by metaphysical enquiry and have learned a lot about the more rarefied angles promoted by philosophical thought both ancient and modern. It was why I made yesterday’s post about modern science being seemingly on a converging path with ancient mysticism. And here’s the rub:

Tonight I had reason to go back to my Brontë notes, and while thus engaged I read Emily’s poetry again. Suddenly I understood it, and was highly surprised by just how spiritually sophisticated she was. This is quite remarkable when you consider that she was the fifth of six children born to a small town clergyman early in the nineteenth century, and who wanted nothing more than to write, tramp the lonely moors, and keep house. (Which is mostly all I want to do.) And she had great difficulty fitting in with societal expectations and connecting with the vast majority of people.

So have I finally met my match, my other half even, among the timeless enormity of the human throng? It’s widely conjectured by mainstream science that time is an illusion, and one of the favoured assertions is the concept of the ‘block theory.’ This promotes the idea that every fact of existence from the past to the future is permanently and immutably in place. (Although relating the theory to the future provides a possible stumbling bloc.)

It’s a fascinating idea, isn’t it? Fanciful maybe, but I still like it.