What Zoroaster knew
Was told again to the Jew;
But allow me in caution to add:
Words are not good or bad.
Poetry is all a priest knows;
And we listen to priests in prose.
“Black Study” is a poetic essay on why black is regarded as evil and how this relates to ideas about black people. It’s Biblical references are mostly from the book of “Daniel” and the “Psalms”. It’s a long piece, which would be best posted in sections. I won’t post it unless there are some who would like to hear “the rest of the story”.
Yes I twould very much like to see lt , Ire
Black Study
I.The Fire Dance
a psychosocial poetic essay
Huddled near leaping flame,
Crouched on our haunches,
We wait for the Light.
We put the fire God
On the earth near us.
We sent Him dancing.
Fearful, we laughed at Him.
Bold was His dance for us.
Bright was His dance for us,
Like a star dancing.
We put the fire God
Between us and night.
In the cave openening
Blackness stood watching us.
Beast of the Darkness
With burning eyes watched us.
Grinning their long teeth
And snarling, they watched us.
Afraid of the fire God,
They waited and watched us
Until no Night hid them.
The Light made them cowards.
The Night made them bold.
Black Study
II. Sermon of the Priest
Light of the Love of God
Wash us White, we pray.
Now is the world in Darkness.
Now is the Prince of Darkness
Walking the Nights of souls.
For God said:
Ye are the Light of the World.
God is the Light within you,
Without which there is but Darkness.
If therefore the Light within you
Be in Darkness,
How great is that Darkness!
Let your Light so shine.
Die to blind flesh.
Die to Black sin.
Live in the Light of the Spirit,
Eternal Light of the Spirit.
God is Light.
And David sang in repentance:
Wash me, and I shall be Whiter than snow.
Wash me.
Many shall be purified and made White–
White as Angels, clothed in White linen.
Many shall be purified by the Light.
Then, let us pray:
Wash me. O Lord.
Wash me White with the Light of your Love.
Black Study
III. Words of the Philosopher
What Zoroaster knew
Was told again to the Jew;
But, allow me in caution to add–
Words are not good or bad.
Poetry is all a priest knows;
And we listen to priests in prose.
IV. Custom
In White the bride was prim and chaste.
In Black a mother mourned her child.
The bridal party chatted and smiled.
The silent woman wept her loss.
V. Night
In somber shrouds of sable clouds
Uncertain Darkness harbors crowds
Of eerie form and sinister sound;
Clandestine acts of sin abouund
In hiding Night where Black must drape
The victim’s cry and the vice’s shape.
Black Study
VI. Black Man
Sold by chiefs, in chains he came
To do the work we would not do.
He was strong and used to the sun.
He made our living while we gave him
Food, a shack and Christianity–
And sometimes a beating for his own good,
And sometimes death for ours.
We never trusted him anyway
Because he was Black;
And we thought Black
Just isn’t the color a man should be.
VII. Conclusion
Something of Blackness is raven
With rumor of Heaven and Hell;
Something of Blackness reminds us
We are born in sorrow to sorrow;
Something of Blackness is sneaking
Like Nights infested with thieves;
And something of Blackness is lurking
Like wolves at the mouth of a cave.
Finis
The entire poem is included here.
Thanx
Is the psychology of the poem sound? It was written in the mad 60s.
Sorry to have neglected ilp. Will read entire poem tonight
Still reading it …meanwhile Daniel. Webster v. The devil comes to mind. on this level and on this only can intentiion be understood.
as the vendidad from ancient Zoroaster texts were mostly of legal prescriptions. The psychology of purity were inferrered from materially con ceived practices and mantras
Therefore the purifying fire can only be inferred.
In this poem the Fire God is Protector, not Purifier. The Light Purifies. The poem reflects Zoroastrian dualism as Good vs Evil., Light vs Darkness. The Jews may not have gotten the concept of dualism from Zoroaster, but they drifted toward it. The poem as a whole attempts to decribe the reasons for this dualism and finds racism to be one of its consequences.
Ire perhaps the difference between the fire and the god, the purity and It’s lack of and It’s consequences was not appreciated for that very reason.
A little more time Irrealus, before duty calls. The shift toward duality occured surely because of very basic psychological processes to be sure,of differentiating highee from lower conceptual functions, and thus differentiating internally directed anger and confusion toward and involving the self,god,and subsequently .purity and guilt. This resulted in objetivication and projection. The fire became the God and lack of its nemesis.
But ritual may have preceded the codes. I may be wrong but it goes to reason.
Hoping ,not to impress any kind of high handed presumption, only an exploration of the possible.
Obe, I see your point. The Fire God of the cave dwellers became the Light God of the priest. Dualism was inherent in the transfer. So what is your opinion of the Sermon of the Priest? Do you believe this sermon touched the psyches of ordinary people or reflected that?
The dynamics of the transfer was probably not understood by the population. The transfer may have consisted of differentiation of fire from light ,corresponding to ascent from the cave. Later the light may have reintegrated with the concept of purity.
Sequentially the rituals were made to correspond to the set up codes.
This implies a reflective understanding
of the priests words, but it may have touched the public, albeit tangentially.
I dont see the difference of the publics
Reflective understanding from their true gut level understanding though because of the intrinsic nature of the duality. As a result, their reflection on the words and their understanding was one and the same, I think.
Yes. The Priest gave names to the fears and aspirations. Custom underscored the power of the names to describe the gut feelings. At this late date in history, we’ve only begun to divest the names of their visceral meanings. We have only just begun to shed our fear of the dark.