Eli Siegel Honored in US Congress

A resolution introduced into the Congressional Record
by the Honorable Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland,
Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Friday, July 26, 2002

(Note: this tribute was offered on the 100th anniversary of Eli Siegel's birth, declared "Eli Siegel Day" in Baltimore, Maryland by the mayor and governor.)

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great Baltimorean poet, educator, and founder of Aesthetic Realism, Eli Siegel.

Mr. Siegel was born in 1902 and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where his contributions to literature and humanity began. Mr. Siegel founded the philosophy Aesthetic Realism in 1941, based on principles such as: Man’s deepest desire, his largest desire, is to like the world on an honest or accurate basis, and ... The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites.

Mr. Siegel explained that the deepest desire of every person is "to like the world on an honest basis." He gave thousands of lectures on the arts and sciences.

Mr. Siegel’s work continues at the not-for-profit Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York City, where classes, lectures, workshops, dramatic presentations, and poetry readings are offered. In addition, a teaching method, based on Aesthetic Realism, has been tested in New York City public schools. The teaching method has been tremendously successful.... The teaching method may be used as an effective tool to stop racism and promote tolerance; because it enables people of all races to see others with respect and kindness.

In 1925, Eli Siegel won the esteemed Nation Poetry Prize for "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana," which brought him to national attention. "Hot Afternoons," Mr. Siegel said, was affected by his thoughts of Druid Hill Park. And so, it is fitting that on August 16, 2002, the city of Baltimore will dedicate the Eli Siegel Memorial at Druid Hill Park on a site near the Madison Avenue entrance, not far from his early home on Newington Avenue. The bronze memorial plaque ... includes a sculptured portrait and poetry.

Mayor Martin O’Malley has designated August 16, 2002 as "Eli Siegel Day" in Baltimore. At this time, I would like to insert the Mayor’s proclamation and a few of Eli Siegel’s poems found in the June 5, 2002 [issue] of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation magazine for the record.

Eli Siegel died in 1978, but his poetry and the education of Aesthetic Realism will be studied in every English, literature, and art classroom across the nation for years to come. I would like to end this tribute by reciting a poem Eli Siegel wrote honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

SOMETHING ELSE SHOULD DIE: A POEM WITH RHYMES
By Eli Siegel

In April 1865 Abraham Lincoln died.
In April 1968 Martin Luther King died.
Their purpose was to have us say, some day:
Injustice died.

Eli Siegel wrote poems for more than six decades. These poems expressed his thoughts on people, feelings, everyday life, love, nature, history. I am proud to offer this tribute. Thank you.

New York Times literary critic Kenneth Roxroth on Eli Siegel

(As quoted by Ken Knabb in Gateway to the Vast Realms, Recommended Readings from Literature to Revolution)

Eli Siegel [1902-1978] is a remarkable and most unjustly neglected writer and thinker. His poems are among the few modern ones that I still read and reread with pleasure. His other writings are generally concerned with expounding his philosophy of “Aesthetic Realism.” According to this perspective (which is not limited to narrowly artistic concerns, but relates to psychology, education, social relations, and in fact just about every aspect of life), people are fundamentally seeking to “unify opposites” within themselves and in their relations with each other and with the world. The arts are seen as key means or expressions of such unity. The primary danger — the “original sin,” so to speak — is contempt: the temptation to think that you will enhance yourself by demeaning someone else. It is, of course, difficult (and sometimes in fact inappropriate) not to be contemptuous of certain persons or things. Siegel’s point is that you should make sure that you have not got into the habit of actually seeking such situations so as to make yourself feel better by contrast.

He works out the implications of these deceptively simple insights with a delightful zest and a remarkable lucidity...I have reread many of his works many times and each time it’s like a breath of fresh air.

His two volumes of poetry are Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana and Hail, American Development. His other books include The Williams-Siegel Documentary (about William Carlos Williams, who enthusiastically saluted Siegel’s poetry), James and the Children (a study of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw), Damned Welcome (a collection of aphorisms), Goodbye Profit System (an anticapitalist polemic), Self and World (an exposition of his psychotherapeutic theories and methods), a Children’s Guide to Parents and Other Matters, and numerous articles, essays and talks. You can order any of them at http://www.definitionpress.org/. The same webpage includes links to online samples of Siegel’s poetry and to other information about Aesthetic Realism publications and programs.

A Note About Scoffers, Name-Callers, Dirt-Kickers and Fabricators

"Blessed is he who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." -- Psalm 1:1

Unfortunately, Aesthetic Realism has been on the receiving end of some pretty outrageous lies. The most outlandish of which is that it is a cult. New thought has often in history been met with such ignorance and outright malice, and Aesthetic Realism is no exception.

The history of Christianity itself can comment on the problem. In the early days of the church the Christian movement was labelled a cult by uncomprehending and, sometimes, deliberately misleading persons who had their own motivations. In his respected work A Summary of Christian History, Robert A. Baker writes: "Either willfully or ignorantly, the pagans twisted the vocabulary of the Christians to involve atheism (no idols), cannibalism (eating the Lord's body and drinking his blood), immorality (growing out of the sensual conception of the word 'love'), and magic and sorcery (in the Supper and baptism). The large gulf between the ethical ideas of the Christians and those of the pagans constantly exposed Christianity to the ire of the people." (Robert A. Baker; A Summary of Christian History, Broadman Press, Nashville, 1959, pg. 16)

Aesthetic Realism today faces such "pagans," who are on the hunt to twist Aesthetic Realism into something it isn't. Reading the highly manipulative web site of a certain individual who has decided to base his self-importance on attacking Aesthetic Realism most unjustly, I couldn't help but recall the words of Abraham Lincoln in commenting upon President Polk's pathetic lies and absurd justifications about a totally unnecessary war with Mexico in 1848. "His confused mind runs hither and thither, like some tortured creature on a burning surface, finding no position on which it can settle down and be at ease."

It does seem strange to me that people can take pride in saying some of the most decidedly hurtful and untruthful things. I read recently about how Abraham Lincoln's good friend Joshua Speed once cautioned him against penning some of his most injudicious thoughts. "Once put your words into writing and they stand as a living and eternal monument against you," Speed warned Lincoln. When what Aesthetic Realism truly is becomes known by people in all its splendor and intellectual acumen, the rantings of this particular web site will indeed stand as a living and eternal monument against its misguided author.

Fortunately, the internet can be used for good as well as evil, and to tell the truth as well as to lie--as many persons are now doing in responding to these ludicrous charges in the admirable web site Friends of Aesthetic Realism, Countering the Lies. I encourage you check it out.

There you can read the noted photographer and editor Ralph Hattersley on Aesthetic Realism. His insightful observations on the mindset and motives of the persons who are attempting to defame Aesthetic Realism are contained in his 1962 letter to Martha Baird. My colleague, Dr. Arnold Perey, has also written importantly on how Aesthetic Realism has been met, placing this current injustice in its larger historical context. There is also my statement on Friends of Aesthetic Realism (Statement by Rev. Wayne Plumstead).

So outrageous are these falsehoods that my father, Jack Plumstead, was impelled to write his own statement concerning them, for which I am truly grateful. There is also a statement by my stepmother, Maria Plumstead and the statement of my dear wife, Rosemary Plumstead.

All I can say about this whole matter is that the internet, while in and of itself a truly wonderful thing that can be used for so much good, has also provided a means for unscrupulous individuals to construct a virtual reality world; one in which they assume the role of God and become the authors of their own "truth" because they do not love or respect the facts as they truly are. It must give these persons a tremendous sense of power and ego-importance to feel that they can bamboozle the unsuspecting into believing all kinds of things so contrary to reality.

Unfortunately, the desire to know is not as strong and beautiful as it should be in the human mind. There is a pronounced tendency in many people toward WANTING to believe the very worst about someone or something. (Witness the prevalence and popularity of some current biographies that pick, choose and rearrange their "facts" most selectively to debunk the lives of great American heroes.) These factors have combined to give the fabricators a fertile field in which to sow their noxious seeds. To my mind, truth is the most sacred thing in the world and the greatest measurement of a person's character and integrity is how intent they are on knowing and acting upon the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. Clearly, to pick and choose, and even to manufacture, your "facts" in order to create an incomplete and false picture of something or someone is hardly an honoring of the truth. But while loving the truth might not be an easy or a popular thing, I sincerely believe it is an individual's highest ethical and intellectual achievement. I hope the readers of this blog will join me in a humble attempt to practice this most lovely of all the human virtues. Not only will we all be much better for it, but the world will be too. "Blessed are those who sitteth not in the seat of the scornful!"