On Agnosticism and the Via Negativa

How can I tell you that I love you, I love you
but I can't think of right words to say
I long to tell you that I'm always thinking of you
I'm always thinking of you, but my words
just blow away, just blow away
It always ends up to one thing, honey
and I can't think of right words to say
Wherever I am girl, I'm always walking with you
I'm always walking with you, but I look and you're not there
Whoever I'm with, I'm always, always talking to you
I'm always talking to you, and I'm sad that
you can't hear, sad that you can't hear
It always ends up to one thing, honey,when I look and you're not there
I need to know you, need to feel my arms around you
feel my arms around you, like a sea around a shore
and -- each night and day I pray, in hope
that I might find you, in hope that I might
find you, because heart's can do no more
It always ends up to one thing honey, still I kneel upon the floor
How can I tell you that I love you, I love you
but I can't think of right words to say
I long to tell you that I'm always thinking of you
I'm always thinking of you....
It always ends up to one thing honey
and I can't think of right words to say


A friend of mine suggests that this song refers to a search for the divine rather than for a woman; this read seems to me to be at least a necessary second level of meaning. This song intrigues me for several reasons.

A) I find the search for words to be a fascinating endeavor. Stevens recognizes the failure of words and the need to invoke images (the sea and the seashore) to convey his meaning. At the same time that he shows that words are not sufficient, he recognizes that words are all we have, and so he uses them. Even conveying images relies on words.

B) Stevens also undermines his assertions that "you can't hear me" and "you aren't there" through his continued attempts at communication. It seems to me that his doubt is appropriate and legitimate. In fact, it reminds me of the via negativa that Eliot articulates in the Four Quartets:

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

This is a beautiful example of and encouragement of real doubt. It is a recognition that our attempts at knowing are typically misguided and incomplete that is quite (surprisingly) similar to agnosticism. The only faith and hope and love that remain for Eliot are in the continuation of existence--this is remarkable. I think agnostics often have more hope than Eliot suggests here. In St. John of the Cross, upon whom Eliot relies here, the darkness that surrounds the person is actually the light of Christ that is so strong that it blinds their weak eyes. Perhaps the humility of agnosticism ought to serve as a criticism of Christian fundamentalism. Perhaps agnostics are closer, in the end, to the beatific vision.