The Complex Vision

"The Complex Vision" by John Cowper Powys is a philosophical work written in the early 20th century. The text delves into the intricate nature of human consciousness, exploring how individuals perceive reality through a "complex vision" comprising various attributes such as emotion, reason, self-consciousness, and will. Powys engages with themes surrounding the nature of the soul, the interplay of love and malice, and the underlying forces that shape our experiences and understanding of existence. The opening of the book introduces the idea that human understanding relies on a profound instrument of research—our consciousness, which concurrently creates and discovers reality. Powys articulates that through a concentrated effort of personality, individuals can achieve what he terms an "eternal vision," connecting with a deeper understanding of oneself and the universe. This section emphasizes a duality in emotions, specifically contrasting love and malice, illuminating how these forces and the unique perspective of the soul shape one’s interpretation of life. Overall, it sets the stage for a broader philosophical examination of existence and perception that promises to explore the profound connections among all personalities and the universe. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

John Cowper Powys was an English novelist, philosopher, lecturer, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse in 1896 and a first novel in 1915, but gained success only with his novel Wolf Solent in 1929. He has been seen as a successor to Thomas Hardy, and Wolf Solent, A Glastonbury Romance (1932), Weymouth Sands (1934), and Maiden Castle (1936) have been called his Wessex novels. As with Hardy, landscape is important to his works. So is elemental philosophy in his characters' lives. In 1934 he published an autobiography. His itinerant lectures were a success in England and in 1905–1930 in the United States, where he wrote many of his novels and had several first published. He moved to Dorset, England, in 1934 with a US partner, Phyllis Playter. In 1935 they moved to Corwen, Merionethshire, Wales, where he set two novels, and in 1955 to Blaenau Ffestiniog, where he died in 1963.