The above quote is indeed genuinely from Keats, which is not always the case with popular quotes. The idea of negative capability is one that I first came across in college. It's stuck with me since. Fact and reason have their place, of course, and we do well to remember that. But in living a creative life, "uncertainties, mysteries, doubts" are the stuff of life. Best to learn to live with them, even appreciate them.
2 comments:
Negative capability is a phrase that's new to me, but the
concept is familiar particularly as it relates to the Zen
saying, 'Only don't know'.
Interesting. Here's a l
blog post making the comparison between Keats and Zen. Apparently he knew nothing of Eastern mysticism, which wouldn't really come into vogue until a few years after he died. But his thinking ran in a similar direction.
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