Verse 21 feels to me like an anti-climax. According to the verse, this existence I am pondering is a dance between the mutual needs of Spirit and Nature. Spirit sees and Nature wants to be seen. When they are together Spirit loses itself in the experience afforded by Nature. My experience of being is an outcome of this game in which Spirit and Nature are seeking some kind of mutual satisfaction.
That’s it? Spirit (through Nature) is playing some kind of hide & seek? Spirit hides from itself in Nature and then goes looking for itself? Yes and no. Yes, this seems to be what the text is implying. No, because my ranting version of it assigns Spirit agency that it does not have. This is not something that Spirit (or Nature) “does,” this is something that “happens.”
“Delusional I” is a bit offended and frustrated: why couldn’t Spirit just stay still, an isolated witness? All this effort, all this agitation, all this suffering just so Spirit can find its way back to …. itself? Seems kind of pointless to “delusional me”!
However, like it or not, It seems the game is set and I am a player. So, maybe the next thing to do is understand what is the game (is it even winnable?), what are the other game pieces and what moves are possible?
We shall not cease from exploration
T.S. Eliot
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.