Unconditional Conditions

The Ancient Modern

Unconditional Conditions / Joshua Alan Sturgill

I cannot believe in the free will
of the philosophers. Neither in pre-

limits imposed by our bodies
limits imposed on our thoughts
limits imposed by space and time

destination, however convincing its
theology. I am not a dichotomist, bound

sleep to relieve our exhaustion
sleep of ignorance, even while awake
sleep as loss of union with God

to embrace an extreme. Three experiences
keep me from intruding on such a pro-

death as an outward decay
death as purifier of the soul
death as our return to paradise

found mystery: soma, psyche, pneuma.
Why invent illusions? Why pronounce on

fundamental laws of matter
immutable ratios of geometry
supra-cosmic forces of Eros

the path of the wind? We have both:
the sky and the command to breathe