Scientio and Poetry

I am reading further into the book _Poetic Knowledge (Ch. 2 this time), and at this point, I perceive that we ought to desire the poetic and the material in balance-- Mr. Taylor relates the poetic to the soul, and the material to the body, stating that we are composite beings-- only whole when we are integrated as to body and soul. He does not reject the material (ie., scientio, reason), but says that it eclipsed the poetic (ie., wonder, leading to contemplation, and then joy) in Modern society. (The ideas of Transcendentalism might be a response to the extreme of rational thought excluding the poetic-- attempting correction but moving too far the other direction.)

If we reject the material and cling only to the poetic, we become like the Gnostics, who said everything material was evil, and this is not the case, as John explains in his Gospel-- Jesus is fully man and fully God, and we are fully material (man) and fully poetic (soul). Whether we live out that seeming dichotomy is another question.

As Mr. Taylor points out in his book, the intellect not only possesses "the ability to abstract essences from material objects to form concepts-- essentially a spiritual act-- but there is a function of the intellect that can be stimulated to elaborate on these concepts and abstract ideas, analyzing them, and so on."

The marriage of poetry and science. Amazing.