The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Peace’

Today the Desiderata popped into my head so I thought that I’d present it here and see what lessons we can learn. I’m not sure if you have heard of the Desiderata before, but it’s a poem written by Max Ehrmann, who was a poet and lawyer who lived from 1872 to 1945. The poem, written in the 1920s is a lesson in life and it’s very hopeful. When I read the Desiderata, I wondered why Ehrmann wrote this poem? What was going on in his life at that time? What did he hope to achieve from writing it? What questions do you have? What I have read suggests that Ehrmann wrote The Desiderata because “I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift — a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods.” Though this poem was written decades ago, after you’ve read it, you’ll agree that it is still applicable today.

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
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,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Source: Poetry Animations

Source: MsVerparacreer

How does this poem make you feel? What lessons can you glean from it? Here are a few of the lessons that I gleaned from this timeless classic:

1. Silence can be golden
2. Learn to get along with others
3. Listen
4. Enjoy your achievements
5. Conduct due diligence
6. Be gentle with yourself
7. Let go of cynicism
8. Be fearless
9. Be at peace
10. Be at peace
11. There is beauty everywhere
12. Strive to be happy

Which of the lessons do you need to learn? For me I need to learn to be gentler on myself as well as to enjoy my accomplishments. Which versions of the YouTube videos do you prefer? Both are great but as I was reading the poem, the song was playing in my head, so I would choose the second. Please keep the conversation flowing, click on the comment link below and leave a note for me. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed.

Related articles

• Desiderata (oftasteanddiscernment.wordpress.com)

A few years ago while I was conducting interviews for my book Tales of People Who Get It, I asked a CEO what his favourite quotation was and why? His response:

“I like ‘If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you’ from the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling because it teaches you not to panic and to stay in control when bad things happen. Don’t be impulsive and think that you have to do something. Sit in a room for a while and be quiet and let the world go by while you think about things.”

Reading the poem below is more poignant now than it was a few years ago. I have been taking Raja yoga classes, and the first three lessons are on The Art of Self Mastery, and the final five on The Ancient Study of Raja Yoga Meditation. I have taken two of the three classes on self mastery and I can feel a big difference. I am feeling calmer and more peaceful. The classes are to help me get peace of mind and much more. The big thing for me for taking the classes was to learn how to let go.

After the first class we were given a handout, Our Mighty Powers: The Most Effective Powers in our Lives for us to study the nine powers: Tolerance, Truth/Honesty, Co-operation, Humility, Accommodation, Discrimination, Love, Judgement and Withdraw. And the words and their meanings in Raja Meditation are different from their traditional English meanings. Each day I read the handout, which includes the meanings of the nine powers, and I see something that I did not see before. I feel a sense of calm wrap itself around me like a well used blanket. I am slowly letting go (Withdraw) of the things that hold me back, and the interesting thing is that I now truly understand what the other powers mean because I can feel them in my soul.

Now I truly understand what the CEO meant when he quoted an excerpt from “If.” Read the poem and just BE.

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

What do you feel right now? What does this poem mean to you? How easy is it for you to sit still for a while? What techniques do you use when you want to experience a sense of peace? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Source for the poem If

Photo credit: Avil Beckford (Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada)