Keats and the negative capability

John Keats speaks about negative capability as characteristic of the artist, or the poet in particular. He says it means ‘being capable of being in uncertainties, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact or reason.’ He was describing a moment where he was sitting in the garden and watching a bird jump around the garden, and he realised after his absorption in that observation that this is what he had experienced, this negative capability, the ability to be in the present moment with complete attention despite having uncertainties or doubts about anything, and without having to explain things, being irritably looking for facts and explanations or reasons. Why does he call it ‘negative’ capability? He calls it ‘negative’, because negative isn’t always negative; negative can be something positive. It means that we can also understand ourselves and our place in reality in terms of what we don’t possess, instead of thinking of ourselves only in terms of what we have, or what we want. So it’s really very similar to the first Beatitude, ‘poverty of spirit’ (Mt 5:3).

( The Art of Waiting , by Laurence Freeman )