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The element of fictional projection that is obviously present in many poems does not discount Sri Chinmoy's interpretation of art as the union of the artist with his true self-form, that is, as both an aesthetic and a spiritual condition, for in portraying a particular state, even one which may not have exact autobiographical correspondences with his own life, the poet is concerned to identify with truth. It is in this sense, then, that the goal of self-discovery through art may be understood. Arnold Stein comments:
All writers learn from their own writing, and it no longer seems difficult to believe that a lyric poet may learn the deepest things about himself during the intensities of composition. If he is the right poet we recognise in the self he discovers both the variety and the oneness of the human condition. [18]
That the ideal of Self-discovery is uppermost for the spiritual poet is echoed in the lyrics of Rabindranath Tagore:
Ever in my life have I sought thee with my songs. It was they who led me from door to door, and with them have I felt about me, searching and touching my world.
It was Try songs that taught me all the lessons I ever learnt; they showed me secret paths, they brought before my sight many a star on the horizon of my heart.
They guided me all the day long to the mysteries of the country of pleasure and pain, and, at last, to what palace gate have they brought me in the evening at the end of my journey?[19]
Again, when this union is not achieved, poetry itself would seem to be beyond his grasp:
The song that I came to sing remains unsung to this day
I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument.
The time has not come true, the words have not been rightly set; only there is the agony of wishing in my heart.
The blossom has not opened; only the wind is sighing by.
I have not seen his face, nor have I listened to his voice; only I have heard his gentle footsteps from the road before my house.
The livelong day has passed in spreading his seat on the floor; but the lamp has not been lit and I cannot ask him into my house.
I live in the hope of meeting with him; but this meeting is not yet .[20]
