CONRAD AIKEN'S UNIVERSE

by Dr. Ian Kluge

NOTE: The following article is the Conclusion of Ian Kluge's "A Reader's Guide to Conrad Aiken's 'Preludes for Memnon'" (World University Press,1998).

While the references are specifically to "Preludes for Memnon", the cosmic vision expressed in this article is also found in Aiken's other major poems. One of the most amazing qualities of Aiken's poetry is the consistency of his thought throughout his writing career. Like every great writer, Conrad Aiken has a vision of the universe, a mental model of how he views the world and by means of which he analyses, evaluates and eventually, creates his work. On the basis of this exploration of "Preludes for Memnon", it is possible to construct a model of Conrad Aiken's vision and to use it for further study of his poetry and thought.

Aiken's model of the universe is particularly well developed and has much to offer in the following areas: metaphysics, or the theory of reality; psychology, or theory of mind; an epistemology, or theory knowledge and an ethics or theory of right and wrong. We shall examine each of these areas in turn bearing in mind that the ideas covered by these various subjects are interconnected and not as disjunct as they appear in an explication such as this. The section references provided are only samples.

Conrad Aiken's metaphysic has already been outlined in the introduction to this guide (See "Becoming God" on this web page.) and must now be described in greater detail. According to Aiken, the universe and all its contents are all, together and individually, an endless dialectical processes motivated by the urge to evolve to increasingly higher levels of complexity. This means that neither the universe nor its contents have an end in time and quite possibly no beginning either. They are, for all intents and purposes, eternal. Even the past can be changed (XXII, Pt.1). Furthermore, static, stable, enduring entities whether they be chairs, mountains, or personal identities do not exist as such but exist only as constantly changing processes. Because the very essence of all 'things' is process, one might say that their 'becoming' is their 'being' and, therefore, as soon as a 'thing' ceases becoming, it loses its essential identity and, in that sense, ceases to exist. Literal rest or the metaphorical rest of heaven must be recognized and rejected as illusions (XLVI).

The fact that all things have the same nature, allows Aiken to see the relationship among things in familial terms (XLII). According to Aiken, all things seek novelty (XLVIII) and self-transcendence (XLIII), wanting to become better than they are. The goal towards which they aspire is, for a period of time at least, the god they seek and worship. God, in Aiken's view, is immanent and clearly not a transcendental God beyond or somehow distinct from the universe (X;XLIII). The universe as a whole also evolves towards a goal or god, and, once attaining it, will evolve towards another in an infinite regress of gods and worlds (VIII). Indeed, the world we know is simply the fragment of a greater mind (XL).

If we ask why the cosmos and all its contents evolve, Aiken's answer, at least in "Preludes for Memnon", is that they do so for the sake of evolution itself and not for extrinsic reward (L). Being dedicated to evolving also means that things accept, need and look forward to death (I; XLIII) because only by dying can they become something else. Death, be it physical or psychological is, in this view, merely a change of identity (XXI), or condition, a transformation into something else and not a cessation of existence.

The metaphysic described in "Preludes for Memnon" seems to be a kind of pantheism in which God and the universe are essentially identical insofar as the universe has many of the qualities usually attributed to God: eternity, creativity and consciousness. This notion is re-enforced by the image of the cosmic heart-beat developed in Section XXII. The universe is alive and much more than the sum of its parts (XXVI). In a metaphysic such as this, it would only be logical that time and space are not considered to be 'real' in the common sense meaning of that term. The narrator explores the unreality of clock time in Section XXVIII. Any conventional ideas about the nature of space are undone his belief in an infinite regress of universes and gods (XLI).

According to Aiken, the process of change is dialectical in nature; things develop by changing into their opposites because each 'thing' - including humanity - really contains its own opposite as a potential (I; IV; VIII; XXXIX; XXXIV). More radically, he sees spirit and matter transforming into one another (XXII). In a universe such as this, it comes as no surprise to learn that Aiken believes things are innately complex, that great events can have simple causes and that great causes may produce simple effects (XIX). The dialectical nature of the cosmos vitiates the usual distinctions between low and high (XVII; XI; XXI; XXXII). Finally, it should be noted that Aiken also envisions the world as a book (VI) and all of creation as language (VII; XIV). He sees both the world and the human mind as intrinsically verbal by nature (L).

Such being the case he believes that the world may be changed by changing the language to describe it (L). "Becoming God" (See this web page) has already outlined Aiken's Kantian psychology or philosophy of mind. Because the mind creates the world from the stimuli it receives (IX; X), it is, in effect, the creator of the world, or god (XIV) though this word does not refer to any superior, transcendent being who is above or exterior to the universe. Indeed, as previously noted, Aiken is, a polytheist of sorts, who believes in an infinite regress of gods - like an endless series of Chinese boxes or Russian dolls - all of whom play a role in the constitution of the universe and its constituent parts.

The most important fact about human psychology is that human consciousness is nothing less than the consciousness of the cosmos itself (X; XLII) and that human beings are the point at which values become part of the cosmic process (XXI; XXXVIII). We become acutely aware of this function in certain "privileged moments" of "cosmic consciousness" (XXI).

Another pivotal fact about human nature is that we are a microcosm of the macrocosmic order (I; XLII;). One of the consequences of this is that we not only contain deep mysteries within us (X) but also that we are irremediable mixtures of good and evil, the virtuous and the vile, and the demonic and the divine (I; XXI; LIII). Being microcosms reflecting the macrocosm, also means that we are what we perceive (VII). Not surprisingly, Aiken finds the heart (XXX) and the world (XLIII) untrustworthy. Aiken's psychology tells us not only that memory and perception are difficult to distinguish (X) but also that we cannot rely on memory to support our sense of identity (I; III; XXXIII) because memory, like the past itself, is subject to change.

The conventional use of memory to 'fix' an event in time as if it were a photograph, is merely a doomed attempt to avoid the facts of ubiquitous cosmic change. Aiken makes this point because he wants us to see that there is no such 'thing' as an enduring and stable identity (I; XXIV, Pt.1; LVIII). As part of our continuous transformation we should learn to let go of our conventional identities without too much fuss (VIII; LIX) and become the diverse worlds we really are (XLIII). He understands that we need a unique identity (XXXVII) but also requires us to accept the fact that the cosmic process within ourselves is the only legitimate identity we shall ever have.

We must learn to accept that, like a stage, our identity lies in the function of being a scene for changes to occur. All conventional identities are based on nothing but wilful ignorance of the facts of change (XXIV, Pt.1). Humanity's specific task, according to Aiken, is the evolution of consciousness, which requires us to accept the facts about our ceaselessly changing identity and doing willfully, by ew nobility of the world. To achieve this destiny, however, we must go beyond merely accepting change and risk and embrace it whole-heartedly, (XLVIII) rejoicing in (XLIV) and praising (XXXIII) all of life, the good as much as the bad. Finally, out of the realization that all beings are also embarked upon this glorious, though at times frightening evolutionary quest, we must develop an attitude of compassion and sympathy (XXXI) for all.

If nothing else, Conrad Aiken developed a highly original vision of the universe, a mixture of naturalism as seen in its denial of any supernatural, transcendent agency, and philosophical idealism as seen in its uncompromising adherence to the primacy of the mind and perception in all human thought and knowledge. However, every bit as important as its originality and its thoroughness, is the fact that with this vision he created stunningly beautiful - though sadly, so far under-appreciated - works of poetry that will sooner or later find the readers they so richly deserve.