Selfless

Selfless

the infant
lacking
the skills
of language
can't possess
an internal dialogue
an internal
communication
that allows it
to formulate
to manipulate
to deliberate
to modify
ideas

how to frame
how to order
thoughts
and ideas
how to present them
to the self
without
codifying them
first
within the framework
of a language
for expressing
those ideas
to others
and the self?

without 
a sophisticated language
how else
can our self
communicate
with our self
about sophisticated ideas
demanding
nuance
specificity
and articulation?

how can anything
as puzzling
as ideas
like what it means
to be a self
with responsibilities
values 
ethics
meaning
purpose
be articulated
with any degree
of sophistication
through smoke signals?

infants
lacking
the framework
of language
to encode
any ideas
even of self
lacking
the foundation
this idea
of self
remains vacant
ungrounded
a consciousness
of pure 
unnurtured 
immature instincts
easy prey
to the whims
of all the attractions
and distractions
of its surroundings
all the bells and whistles
barely
distinguishable
from the self
the babbling infant
experiences
yet
has no idea
about

once
language
frames ideas
like the idea
the understanding
of self
as something distinct
from the objects
of our endless distractions
from itself
can we focus
on the idea
of what it means
to be us
as distinguishable
from all the objects
of distraction
from ourselves

while some of us
even with
the language
that allows us
to found
and form
ideas
of things
and our selves
never distinguish
like the infant
between the self
and all the objects
that distract it

those
remain selfless
in the worst sense
of being
selfless

those
remain selfless
innocent infants
in the crib
pushing buttons
spinning wheels
turning knobs
for the delight
of the sounds
they produce

those
remain selfless
like weeds
with no responsibilities
no obligations
no ethics
no actions
but those
given to them
by an indifferent sun
an indifferent soil
and indifferent
winds
offering freedom
from the burdens
of being
an understood
self

with no 
idea of self
with no self
there is nothing
to scrutinize
merely things
to experience
like all those distractions
that in place
of any idea
any understanding
of self
make the self
what it is

with no idea
of self
it remains nothing
or
a vaporous
pliable
a feebly articulated
murky
muddled
patchworked
makeshift
piecemealed
self
cobbled together
with incoherent
incompatible
morals
values
metaphysics
of science
religion
politics
all sewn together 
by the conflicts
between our reason
emotions
and instincts

our politics
our religions
the sciences
reason
emotions
instincts
all the wheels
buttons
knobs
dials
on a baby's
playset
distracting it
from its sense
of self
too immature
yet
to claim itself
from all
those 
alluring
distractions

an amorphous
self
sputtering
stuttering
puttering
too rich with emotion
too lean on reason
too charged on mysticism
too drained of realism
a glutton of particular freedoms
while starved of specific duties
able
to become
whatever 
it needs to be
helpless or autonomous
imbecilic or sagacious
whenever
it needs to be
a clever adaptation
for survival
while remaining
neither air
water 
nor ice
not even
the molecules
nor the laws
that govern 
them