"Jove to Jove"

"We owe many valuable observations to people who are not very acute or profound, and who say the thing without effort which we want and have long been hunting in vain. The action of the soul is oftener in that which is felt and left unsaid than in that which is said in any conversation. It broods over every society, and they unconsciously seek for it in each other. We know better than we do. We do not yet possess ourselves, and we know at the same time that we are much more. I feel the same truth how often in my trivial conversation with my neighbors, that somewhat higher in each of us overlooks this by-play, and Jove nods to Jove from behind each of us."

I have been re-reading bits of Emerson ("The Essential Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson"; and to be truthful, reading with fresh eyes what I should have read more fully and carefully a long time ago). And I do admit that I can't get through very much at one time without pausing to figure out the meaning (and then what I think about it or where it leads me). I tend to get lost easily, thinking he is talking about one thing only to see that he has moved on to something else related, but different; I do wonder occasionally if he ever made a singular point.

My modern eyes and long under-used brain are accustomed to looking for the set-up logic, then finding a specific point quickly (something you may have some difficulty with in this post). Sometimes I grow tired of it and simply jump around until a passage catches my eye, so I have several bookmarks and page tabs for particular passages that either struck me as meaningful or else completely baffled me and several half finished places in the various sections of the book.

I was wandering the pages today, picked up where I had last left off in an essay ("The Over-Soul") and the passage above leapt out.

Setting aside the "not very acute or profound", I cannot help but think of this soul to soul or at least mind to mind connection we all seem to be seeking.

When I am reading each of you in your blogs, I sometimes "see" you. I am often moved and touched and very often all of you send me off into directions of my own. When you post something profound, frequently I cannot for the life of me think of a response that would fit the wondrous composition of your words; words that say a thing with such clarity and ring on in my mind long after they have disappeared from the screen. For a tiny moment besides the exhilaration of a new tangent for me, I grok you. If we were face to face, our souls would be nodding to each other "behind us", while I was still struggling out in front for words, but at least you would know that I saw you, heard and understood.

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