Yeats' Crazy Jane is perhaps not so crazy as the Bishop would have us believe. Rather she seems to be wiser than the Bishop. Jane would prefer true and natural experiences in life to a philosophy of idealism bordering on suppression of bodily desires and passion.
Most spiritual guides and oriental Gurus will generally advise us to shun bodily pleasures, which according to them is the only way to attain salvation. But body and passion have a very pivotal role to play in Yeats' philosophy. Perhaps a perfect balance has to be struck between body and soul -
"Learned in bodily lowliness
And in the heart's pride."
Body has to suffer to attain transcendence or spirituality :
"For nothing can be sole or whole
That has not been rent."
That has not been rent."
The truism of this poem may be uncomfortable, but there is no denying the fact that worldly love has its "mansion" most prevalent and firmly pitched "in the place of excrement".
Our spiritual guides must understand this before they advise their young aspirants to do away with passion if they want to start on a spiritual journey. Perhaps Osho had understood this point. His book Sambhog Se Samaadhi Tak perhaps has something of this philosophy that body should not be ignored, rather enjoyed, for the sake of soul.
The journey thus to the spiritual awakening and upto the "heavenly mansion" must be through the path of "foul sty"!
But a very significant point to be addressed in this context is whether a journey through the "foul sty" is bodily pleasure or suffering.
Now read the poem for yourself and form your own opinion.
--Yogendra Krishna
A Poem by WB Yeats
I met the Bishop on the road
And much said he and I.
'Those breasts are flat and fallen now,
Those veins must soon be dry;
Live in a heavenly mansion,
Not in some foul sty.'
'Fair and foul are near of kin,
And fair needs foul,' I cried.
'My friends are gone, but that's a truth
Nor grave nor bed denied,
Learned in bodily lowliness
And in the heart's pride.
'A woman can be proud and stiff
When on love intent;
But Love has pitched his mansion in
The place of excrement;
For nothing can be sole or whole
That has not been rent.
I met the Bishop on the road
And much said he and I.
'Those breasts are flat and fallen now,
Those veins must soon be dry;
Live in a heavenly mansion,
Not in some foul sty.'
'Fair and foul are near of kin,
And fair needs foul,' I cried.
'My friends are gone, but that's a truth
Nor grave nor bed denied,
Learned in bodily lowliness
And in the heart's pride.
'A woman can be proud and stiff
When on love intent;
But Love has pitched his mansion in
The place of excrement;
For nothing can be sole or whole
That has not been rent.
In many uncomfortable perspectives lie the germs of truth.
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