Heraclitean logos and flux in T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets: 'cosmic consciousness' and 'the still point of the turning world'
Koers : Bulletin for Christian Scholarship June 4, 2013 A. Wessels
Eliot's 'Burnt Norton' uses Heraclitus's opposition and interdependence between logos and flux to explore three relationships: temporality and eternity, God and humanity, and structured art versus chaotic experience. The poem's key moments, such as the 'moment in and out of time', may stem from Eliot's personal mystical experiences. Comparing Eliot's poetic rendering with Richard Maurice Bucke's 1901 description of cosmic consciousness reveals similarities but also essential differences: Eliot offers a purely Christian interpretation of the intersection of time and eternity, whereas Bucke takes a more universalist approach. For Eliot, access to eternity comes through temporal human experience, art's timeless configurations, and ultimately Christ as the embodiment of divine love.