To Have What is Not

(A dear friend sent me a quote from Toni Morrison, I reply:)

...But the priest desires. The philosopher desires. 

And not to have is the beginning of desire.
To have what is not is its ancient cycle
It is desire at the end of winter, when 

It observes the effortless weather turning blue... 

It knows that what it has is what is not
And throws it away like a thing of another time,
As morning throws off stale moonlight and shabby sleep. 

- Wallace Stevens, “Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction”

As I read this poem, my mind links differing concepts and ideas into a linguistic wholeness. Desire knows that what desire has is what is not. We throw our hearts desire away as a thing of another time when life brings us the dawn of a new age. Yet, sometimes we desire again and again--for not to have is the beginning of desire and to have what is not is it’s ancient cycle.

What is my remedy? "Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4) We came into this world with nothing and will certainly leave this world with nothing. So, let us be content with food and clothing. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. The desire for money is the imposition of not-to-have on others, rooted in the bottomless pit of the fear that what you have is not. Love of money is rooted in the never-ending winter, a fire that will not be quenched, and a sleep that does not wake--for there will always be one more thing. 

And just so that pernicious evil of white folks is the imposition of not-to-have on the many. A taking of even the possession of food and clothes, along with everything else. Not to have is the beginning of desire: the desire to be whole, when you are rendered incomplete. The desire to prove that you have language, when your language is silenced in your mouth. The desire to show that you have art and kingdoms, when art and kingdoms are stolen from you in the process of their creation.

Toni Morrison writes:

The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.

In the dawn of the new era, throw this distraction away like a thing of another time. Your reason for being does not need to be explained. Live the age to come in this very moment. You are a priest. And, yes, the priest desires. Not to have is the beginning of desire. To have what is not is its ancient cycle. But, take delight in the Lord (not this harmful world) and the desires of your heart will be like the end of winter as you observe the effortless weather turning blue. In this way, you truly have what has not-yet-come, free from the imposition of One. More. Thing.