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Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
- petesergeant 4y agoahh, I like this poem so much that a few years ago I got a tattoo based off the lines: "You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here."
- zasdffaa 4y agoI guess I have a different personality and life experiences from Ehrmann. It's bovine acceptance ("no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should") really grates. There's good advice in there about listening to others, and more, but that level of just-accept-things is leading us as a race, and perhaps as individuals, to disaster. It's not for me anyway.
- TheaomBen 4y agoYou could interpret it more generously as be not concerned over that which you do not control.
- Terretta 4y agoAgree. > I don’t believe that any supernatural force is at play, certainly not an all caring and loving one, for there is great and needless suffering in our world. Consider an alternate reading, doubling down on unfolding: “And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it will. Therefore be at peace with entropy, whatever you conceive it to be.” One can read the whole and happily strive to bring local order to local chaos as a vocation, both suspecting that may be futile down the infinite yet fulfilled by the local effort, and being at peace with entropy.
- telesilla 4y ago>"no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should" The alternative seems so destructive to oneself, to imagine your efforts could change how the universe is unfolding. Perhaps your household you could exert some control over, maybe your neighbourhood or village, maybe town or even city, or perhaps if you really have luck through your hard work: country or larger population. but the Universe? It has its own plans, bred from the physics of long-travelling dust and atoms, and its own path. We are not much of a concern to it nor can we affect change on it. It helps me to look at the stars when I am stressed that I am not "doing enough or being successful enough". Those stars do not know who I am and never will. Enough that I love and am loved, here in this small sphere in time and space where I exist.
- avg_dev 4y ago“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
- bombcar 4y agoYou may prefer Deteriorata: https://youtu.be/Ey6ugTmCYMk https://youtu.be/Ey6ugTmCYMk
- elevaet 4y agoA great antidote to that line of thought is the saying: > Only dead fish go with the flow
- zasdffaa 4y agoI love it, I really do! That is perfect.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago.. and salmon returning to the sea ... and ...
- avg_dev 4y agoI just read this poem and I agree with you about the lines: > And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. I don’t believe that any supernatural force is at play, certainly not an all caring and loving one, for there is great and needless suffering in our world. That all said, I do find much of the rest of the poem comforting and good advice for myself. Very finally, I urge you to reconsider the phrasing of “bovine acceptance”. Cows are intelligent beings. They have long memories, they have friends, they have feelings. They have personalities. They are capable of learning.
- samizdis 4y ago> I urge you to reconsider the phrasing of “bovine acceptance”. Cows are intelligent beings. They have long memories, they have friends, they have feelings. They have personalities. They are capable of learning. I read the term "bovine acceptance" without considering it to denigrate cows, their personalities, feelings etc, but rather with the focus on "acceptance", their perceived resignation to fate or order/hierarchy. My thinking was informed by a bit of Chocky [1], by John Wyndham, in which the key character, a boy called Matthew Gore - who has been communicating telepathically with an alien lifeform (Chocky) and trying to answer questions put to him about Earth - asks his father, "Why does a cow stop?" What the boy means is that he sees cows mass at the field gate at the right time of day, awaiting the farmer who opens the gate, whereupon the cows turn the right way into the lane, enter the farmyard properly, enter the milking stalls without instruction etc - and then the whole process in reverse. But never do they undertake the oft-watched and easy action of raising the simple gate lever to open it for themselves. The father, narrator in the book, offers the idea of "limited intelligence" by way of explanation - but "bovine acceptance" of the world's order might actually be a more useful way to look at it. And, again - unlike the concept of "limited intelligence" - it's no slur on the cows' faculties or feelings. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocky
- isaacfrond 4y ago> Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, > even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. No they don't. Most people are average. Really, within a few sigma the fast majority is surprisingly dull and average.
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- igorkraw 4y agoIf this is true, what makes you think you are outside a few sigma?
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- aliqot 4y agoThey didn't say that, however being able to make the distinction so clearly should be an indicator that they may be.
- isaacfrond 4y agoPuhleeze.There are well over 7 billion people in the world. You represent, rounded to a lot of decimal places: 0% You are not special, and neither am I. Everybody does not have a novel in them.
- dncornholio 4y agoSaid like someone who hasn't talked to anyone before.
- suprfnk 4y agoDo they not have their story too?
- moeris 4y ago> the vast majority is surprisingly dull and average A rose is still beautiful even though it's common. I think the problem is that people are often scared to open up about the more vulnerable parts of their lives. "Dull" people can have very interesting or poignant pasts, but can be unable or unwilling to share it.
- ArtWomb 4y agoThe National Lampoon Radio Hour parody version also aligns well with the hacker ethos we enjoy here: "...and despite the changing fortunes of time, there is always a future in computer maintenance" ;) National Lampoon's Deteriorata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFLvhKv-Lbo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFLvhKv-Lbo
- gHA5 4y ago"The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
- prox 4y agoStunning poem, thank you for sharing.
- daoist_shaman 4y agoWhat a beautiful way to describe being present. There's a quote widely attributed to Laozi, author of the Tao Te Ching If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.
- calibas 4y agoWidely attributed to Laozi but actually from "Jimmy R": https://books.google.com/books?id=7QNk4eNvS44C&pg=PA175&lpg=PA175&dq=%22days+of+healing+days+of+joy%22+%22jimmy+r%22&source=bl&ots=C-jAUVg8y8&sig=fB9m-eQ1IvtjJV6Ncz8mZ30RRHo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIrYnZyNDlyAIVV_5jCh07uQOs#v=onepage&q=%22days%20of%20healing%20days%20of%20joy%22%20%22jimmy%20r%22&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=7QNk4eNvS44C&pg=PA175&lpg=...
- daoist_shaman 4y agoNot as exciting as Laozi but I'll take it. Jimmy R deserves credit where credit is due.
- cratermoon 4y ago"There are, mendicants, these two assemblies. What two? An assembly educated in fancy talk, not in questioning, and an assembly educated in questioning, not in fancy talk" https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/the-buddha-on-fake-buddha-quotes-9/ https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/the-buddha-on-fake-buddha-quote...
- ncmncm 4y agoThen, Gamers' Desiderata, https://cantrip.org/gamers-desiderata.html https://cantrip.org/gamers-desiderata.html I guess the "crates and ramps" reference dates it a bit.
- theuri 4y agoWorth a quick (hilarious) read of the text of Deteriorata ;) https://web.archive.org/web/20150511234144/http://www.joke-archives.com/poetry/deteriorata.html https://web.archive.org/web/20150511234144/http://www.joke-a...
- jayski 4y agomy grandmother had one of these framed in her reading room.
- goatcode 4y agoI prefer this take: https://genius.com/National-lampoon-deteriorata-annotated https://genius.com/National-lampoon-deteriorata-annotated
- awill88 4y agoI grew up with the Desiderata poem on my wall.
- emmelaich 4y agoFollowing on from the recent link for "Sunscreen" In my experience surprisingly few people are familiar with it.
- dhoe 4y agoIn my experience, the same people who have "live love laugh" signs have this framed somewhere, but think it's medieval wisdom or something.
- aliqot 4y agoI courted someone who thought it was the most brilliant thing they'd ever read. I knew it wouldn't work.
- dhosek 4y agoMy 8th grade class had to recite this at our graduation. It included the spurious attribution, found at Old St Paul’s Church 1672