IN RESONANCE WITH THE EARTH
This section of the journal contains poetry and prose, fine art, photography, multimedia, and other creative products reflecting our relationship with the world of nature. In this issue, this section includes an artwork and an essay by Merve Kurt and musical and poetic creations by Alexander Kopytin
TALIESYN IN THE DIGITAL ERA
Alexander Kopytin
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Department of Psychology, St. Petersburg Academy of Postgraduate Pedagogical Studies (St.-Petersburg, Russian Federation)
I was inspired to write a series of poems called “Thus Spoke Taliesyn” by the poetic legacy of the poet of the Early Middle Ages, who lived in the 6th century AD. In the image of this bard, in his very perception of the world, as far as one can judge from the relatively few surviving poems, I found the embodiment of the archetypal ideal of the Poet, who feels not only the human drama, but also the universe, our planet, his native Wales, and who is capable of communicating not only with his contemporaries, but also with nature itself and the Web of Life.
The image of the "legendary" Taliesyn as a bearer of universal knowledge about the world and humanity has proven very popular among authors of historical novels, especially those based on Celtic mythology. This image resonates with contemporary posthumanist ideas of relational ontology about the profound interconnections between humans and nonhuman beings. The concept of relational ontology, central to posthumanist environmental education, suggests that all beings, humans and nonhumans alike, are shaped by their relationships with one another. The figure of the "legendary" Taliesyn reveals itself as a precursor to such a relational ontology and a new materialistic perspective, deepening our understanding of the material world, revealing its hidden subjectivities as Teacher, Artist, Poet, and so on, the world as a bearer of ecopoietic seeds sprouting in the bosom of culture, the Earth and the vast spaces of the universe.
The existence of subjectivities beyond the human world, with which humans are capable of communicating and co-creating, invites us to embrace an ethic of relational care and the prospect of interspecies cooperation, emphasizing reciprocal relationships with the natural world, engaging in care for local ecosystems based on the interdependence of all things and the need for environmental justice.
My interest in Taliesyn, along with the attempts of many other admirers of his poetic legacy to imbue him with qualities of ecological wisdom and justice, a capacity for creative imagination, and to make him a harbinger of posthumanist insights, has something in common with attempts to idealize a number of other historical figures, such as Zarathustra. His image once inspired Friedrich Nietzsche to write his philosophical novel "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." In this work, however, Nietzsche rather freely describes Zarathustra, turning him into a spokesman for his own ideas. Similarly, in Taliesyn, I have, to a certain extent, found my Hero, and by identifying with him and using poetic language, I have gained additional opportunities to express my own eco-human ideals.
Half a year ago, I decided to try setting my poems from this cycle to music using AI. This is how my first music-poetic album, "Thus Spoke Taliesyn," was born. I offer four tracks from this album for listening here: "I’m Taliesyn," "Hallelujah!", "Spell of Love," and "Taliesyn's Posthumous Journey." The whole album is available at the streaming platforms, such as, for example, Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ru/album/i-am-taliesyn/1848150648?i=1848150650
"I’m Taliesin": https://disk.yandex.ru/d/7rGR36kvUI4TFw
"Hallelujah!": https://disk.yandex.ru/d/XbcwhWir360C0Q
Spell of Love": https://disk.yandex.ru/d/2G5iY6OdlhMpsg
"Taliesin's Posthumous Journey": https://disk.yandex.ru/d/gxtC0iLx9kNj8w
Cover of the musical and poetic album, "Thus Spoke Taliesyn" (2025)