Existence by Bryant H. McGill

From the Publisher

EXISTENCE journeys into the grand and mysterious corridors of the human condition. Touching on themes of love, birth, death, change, and nature; submerge your meditations into the truths of old world religions, mysticism, Eastern and Western philosophies, and new age awakenings. Listen to the insights of sages and rumors from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Rome, Asia, Greece, Africa and the Americas. Pry at the very roots and constructs of Jungian symbolism and ostensibly abstract thought. Brood over humanity's outward manifestations of a collective and dynamic consciousness that lurks within the aboriginal self; suggesting a powerful struggle between concepts of inner and outer reality. McGill is searching for the delicate fragrances of ancient knowledge, perceptions, and primordial archetypes that like a thin, veiled mist, lingers dormant in the folklore, stories, mythology, tradition and art of our human progenitors, all culminating to impress the reader with a sense of our greater purpose in life.

McGill, a classically trained and internationally acclaimed poet, was taught personally by contemporary and past masters such as the protégé of W.H. Auden, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, and by the eminent naturalist and intellectual, Dr. Allen W. Eckert. McGill is best known for his advocacy of the poetic arts, and is the editor and author of the award-winning McGill English Dictionary of Rhyme, which is used by tens of thousands of writers from over 100 countries, and stands as the world's most extensive rhyming reference ever created in the history of the English language.

Featured Contributors:
Bill Perrot, Charlotte Moore, Chloe Ryan, Chris S. Heinen, Dennis C. Chisum, Gabrielle F. Culmer, Harry Jeudy, Jacqueline P. Gelfuso, Jennifer Warren, Lilya d'Ashuri, Michael Henrnandez, Ochora David, Rebecca D. Roberts, Renee Terrell, Robert Black, and Simon Seamount.

Author's Comments:
In EXISTENCE I have tried to create a book that can be enjoyed, studied and referred to again and again. Poetry, it seems, is not as popular as it once was. Knowing this, rather than create a book exclusively comprised of poetry, I have endeavored to create a contextual work of my verse, observations, art, photography and sculptures, which has been carefully complemented with relevant contributions by other artists, important contemporaries poets, book excerpts, famous quotes, book recommendations, stories and poetry of the ages. Through this non-linear approach, I hope to offer the common reader a rich texture and discussion from diverse cultural perspectives about the mysteries and meanings of our existence.
 
Try not to let your religious and cultural prejudices stand in the way of learning something new or understanding something differently. What seems one way to one person seems very different to another. What would be correct and good in one instance can be wrong under other circumstances. Therefore, I consider the opinions of others as I do the words from a friend's conversation; to be considered alongside my own and carefully weighed and thought about. I hope you will consider the many words and perspectives in this book. I hope that you will find many similarities with these cultures and their ethological constructs so seemingly dissimilar from your own.
 
Ultimately, I would like to build bridges to greater understanding and empathy. It is not that I believe there is no evil in the world; for there surely is, and it must be dealt with. I do, however, believe there is an appalling lack of understanding, communication and concession between individuals and groups. So often, both have valid and completely legitimate points, yet both have great misunderstandings too, and neither have any capacity to acknowledge their own faults. Both sides are often right about the other, wrong about themselves and unwilling to accept the mantel of responsibility to change. Change will never happen when people lack the ability and courage to see themselves for who they are.
 
In my own quest for greater understanding, I have held correspondences for a great many years with people of diverse stations in life, and in multitudinous regions and nations. Many of these people I communicate with are very well known in their respective fields, and often these people have something very meaningful to say. As I have found out, many of them have led excruciatingly brutal lives of high pressure; pressures where the seams of true human nature are often ripped open, exposing them to the best and worst humanity has to offer. Many are in positions of high power, literally holding the lives of their subordinates in their hands. For example, I have communicated with an executioner from a firing squad, a billionaire CEO, a death row serial killer, world famous actors, one of the most hated men in America, a cutting edge researcher, a surgeon who has felt the life under his scalpel slip away, a soldier that has killed hundreds in battle, Noble Prize laureates, best selling authors, politicians and countless other intriguing people with vivid life experiences to learn from. These people often have something simple, yet profound to say, and almost always, it is surprising.
 
Equally important though, is my correspondence with ordinary people living out regular lives, and I have found their experiences, stories and advice meaningful and touching. Many of my correspondents live in countries across the globe such as Greece, Romania, Sierra Leone, France, Denmark, Madagascar, Australia, Pakistan, India, Lithuania, Spain, Hong Kong, Norway, Iraq, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, China and dozens of other countries and cities. I communicate with the young and old, rich and poor, and people representing many cross-sections of life experience, religious conviction, political affiliation and cultural understanding. I also pay aclose ttention to what children have to say, for I learn a great deal from them too.
 
My exploration has reached into my own personal life and past too. I have talked with people in the tragic field of pediatric oncology. I have been an interpreter for the deaf working within that silent subculture and listening to what there was to learn about communication and isolation. As a young man, I volunteered hundreds of hours in hospices and domiciliaries, befriending the elderly who had no family, and have held their hands in mine, as I watched life's light flicker, and at once fade from their eyes as they passed from this world. I have sat silent and frightened, with tears streaming from my eyes as I tried to grasp some salient thought about the absence of their breath. I have collected stories from these people, many of whom exist only as a memory in my mind, and a sentiment in my poetry. I have done hundreds of hours of work with the police and FBI, working with the socially challenged, domestic chaos, suicides, addictions and remorseless killers, during which, I have held a dying woman's skull together with my bare hands as she gasped, trying to whisper some unintelligible communication to me with her last breath. I have stood witness to both the creation, and destruction of innocent life. I have worked with the mentally retarded and physically challenged, and learned about the broken boundaries between the mind and body, and the fine line between health and hardship.
 
But even with all of my experiences I know that I am naïve, but not so much so, as to not know that we are all naïve. We are all struggling, whether we know it at times or not. Even in our moments of individual bliss, an incubus of ignorance, fear and hunger still haunts large regions of the world. I am recalcitrant to the ever pervasive ethos of apathy that haunts my part of the world, but not nearly enough. We all need to intimately know the sorrows of others, so that the saying, "There but for the grace of God, go I," becomes an epitaph to our indifference, rather than a trite allegory of elitism for those who have forgotten that they too are human, that they too are frail, that they too are subject to such miseries. And in this dervish whirlwind of vanity, indifference, greed and ignorance we fuel, we all at times, ask whatever forces we believe in for clarity and meaning of our purpose in this existence; our Raison D'etre.
 
However, true meaning is an apparition. Life is complex and full of illusions. Absolute understanding in this life is unattainable, and time without profound change is inescapable. Yet, we are all still compelled, like the moth to the flame, to attain that which is beyond our reach, and this we must do. The mysteries we ostensibly perceive, though seemingly ubiquitous, are but mere stitches that hold the inconceivably vast fabric of the unknown tightly closed from our ever prying view.
 
To understand the mysteries of life you must look around and within. You will see patterns everywhere; patterns that seem to manifest themselves over and over again. These patterns exist intertwined within nature and man bridging the gap between the enigma of self and universe. You see them in spiraling galaxies and the Mandelbrot fractal of fossilized Ammonoidea; growing from the unknown to atoms to molecules to solar systems to galaxies to the paradoxical expanses of the universe with origins and destinations unknown; just like us in birth and death. The similarities of tree branches, rivers and blood veins. The power of cellular division and nuclear fission, the patterns of finger prints like endoplasmic reticulum, or a black opal's play of fire like the nebula of supernova. Moon shots are like protoplasmic lurches, while simple thoughts and observations of the nature around us take us beyond the unknown. The clues to the great mystery are all around us and deep within us.
 
You may find many philosophical contradictions within my writings. However, to this I say such is life, for life is full of contradictions. Do not allow the adumbrations of Aristotelian logic to prevent you from seeing a vast spectrum of truths; the post-Boolean continuum of shades of grey where we spend most of our lives. This simple philosophical perspective, long understood in Eastern spiritual philosophies is a 'new,' seminal vanguard of understanding and reason in the West. Poetry can bridge that gap between what is solid and what is suggested; poetry can pull cogent meaning from the vaporous illusions of the esoteric. The most essential thing I can say of poetry is this: Good poetry does not exist merely for the sake of itself, but rather, is a byproduct of yearning and growth; great poetry canonizes that yearning for the growth of others.
 
I call my poetry 'Living Poetry,' because it is continually a work in the making, as I too am a work in the making. When you read one of my poems, you may be in fact reading the thoughts, sentiments and life experiences as seen through my eyes, and the experiences of many people in many places. One of my poems, 'The Tree of Life,' is a composite of wisdom and insights from nearly 100 people living in numerous countries, and took two years to get on paper. My poetry is not about books or mass publications or publicity or fame. I have always been too busy corresponding, thinking, learning and writing to want any of that. My poetry is about real people, relationships and experiences that we can all learn from. My poetry is certainly not about me, for I am far too unimportant. I am just a student of the world; a miniscule, and frail embodied consciousness struggling to understand, and be a meaningful part of this great, mysterious play of life which is set on the stage of our baffling home in the universe.
 
Join me in my quest for a greater understanding of our existence. Join me in my desire for a greater self. Join me as I seek the humility to love and understand my fellow man. True love is quiescent, except in the nascent moments of true humility. Life is a wonderful journey. I believe we should make good use of the precious time and talents we have been given. We should look at the world around us, as well as the mysteries within us, as we seek for understanding and harmony with self. The gift of thought is more than I can bear, and I am elated in gracious joy for each moment I have in this beautiful and painful existence called life.

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