Henrik Karlsson (@henrikkarlsson): "If you find it hard to enjoy poetry, here’s a thought that can help. Assume there’s nothing there for you to understand. The poem is not an act of communication. Instead, it is an act of prompting. The poet is approaching you as a language model, supplying a series of prompts …"

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The poem is not an act of communication. Instead, it is an act of prompting. The poet is approaching you as a language model, supplying a series of prompts that you’re supposed to run in your head—and it’s the thing that happens inside you that matters. Poems are, in this way, more closely related to the jhanas than to blog posts. Skimming a poem, saying, “I don’t get it”, is like reading the instructions to a meditation technique, saying, “Its just a bunch of stuff about lovingkindness and noticing the tickling sensation in my hands, I don’t get why people are so excited about it.” Try following the instructions? — Another metaphor: reading poems is like having sex. You don’t have sex because you are trying to achieve something (fotnot: well, sometimes). There is no lesson that awaits you at the end. You do it because losing yourself in the pleasure of being an animal body together with someone else is a singular and exciting experience (if you are into that sort of thing). Poems, lik

If you find it hard to enjoy poetry, here’s a thought that can help. Assume there’s nothing there for you to understand. The poem is not an act of communication. Instead, it is an act of prompting. The poet is approaching you as a language model, supplying a series of prompts that you’re supposed to run in your head—and it’s the thing that happens inside you that matters. Poems are, in this way, more closely related to the jhanas than to blog posts. Skimming a poem, saying, “I don’t get it”, is like reading the instructions to a meditation technique, saying, “Its just a bunch of stuff…

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