The Oath Of Optimism
*
To remain hopefully optimistic when the apocalyptic future
of our transitory planet is certain and inevitable.
*
To practice the art of optimism even when proven wrong,
over and over again, seventy times seven.
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To remain steadfast and justifiably optimistic in our belief:
compassion and mercy will always exist in the face
of surrounding doubt and deep despair.
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To continue to sustain our reasonable optimism faithfully,
for the joy and peace that surpasses all understanding is
at once transcendent, immanent, and eternal; imagining
it to be, and acting as if this sacred right simultaneously
belongs to members and spirits alike, who work toward that
which serves the most noble, honorable, and just cause.
*
To remain divinely optimistic that we are who we are,
and what will be will be; that just as we are we come,
and we will keep on becoming infinitely better, more
perfect, pure and beautiful on the way of truth, as we
move ever closer to the glorious Light Of God.
*
May 30, 2009 at 1:44 pm
*Acceptance* has been the keyhole through which I glimpsed at such future.
May 30, 2009 at 2:33 pm
that is just hard uncle.
May 30, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Yes, Pablo, to accept the fact of so many possible endings is key.
And thank you for translating your latest piece of fine work for me.
I thought I felt a kinship with something there towards the end. Kudos!
May 30, 2009 at 3:43 pm
It is darn near impossible, D!
My dad used to belong to the Optimist Club in town.
This was what I wrote in his card for Father’s Day a few years back.
And he’s one of the few people I have ever known who could actually
accomplish as great a feat as this implies. (Jesus is his closest friend.)
May 30, 2009 at 7:18 pm
the Optimist Club. i love that one. would a make a book of that title, if i would only had something optimistic to say. not that i am not. there is no reason to be.
May 30, 2009 at 10:27 pm
A balanced approach is wise,
reasonable, logical, and often boring, D!
They did meet in the morning for breakfast once a week,
but these ol’ timers new nothing of the futuristic Breakfast Club.
A small fyi, they held oratory contests of which I was a participant.
When I was 14, I made the finals in the state, and had to speak
for 3 minutes in front of 500 strange, but well meaning optimists.
No, I didn’t win. I was a runner-up. The story of my life. Sigh…
May 31, 2009 at 8:06 am
I guess optimism needs to be trained like many other skills.
reminds me of the saying “A successful man is the one that goes from one failure to another with great enthusiasm”
Take care my tree
May 31, 2009 at 10:34 am
Hey, Mariana! Isn’t the trick to know failure when we see it?
Perseverance, it can be said, is very important. There are times though,
when we keep knocking on a door that’s already been slammed in our
face. Then it’s like banging your head against the wall, or beating a dead
horse, as we say. How do we realize when we need to move on to other
endeavors that might prove more useful and fruitful? Is it a crap shoot?
I have a paperback version of “The Glass Bead Game”, and soon after I
had posted Fisher Of Mentality, I decided to read it for the second time.
I came across this yesterday. The hero has met up with a Chinese sage
who has mastered the I Ching. To decide whether or not the visitor is
allowed to stay for awhile, he consults the oracle and ‘deals out’ the
yarrow sticks. This then was the verdict:
Youthful folly wins success.
I do not seek the young fool,
The young fool seeks me.
At the first oracle I give knowledge.
If he asks again, it is importunity.
If he importunes, I give no knowledge.
Perseverance is beneficial.
This really got me to thinking.
You take care now, too, sweet niece!
May 31, 2009 at 12:02 pm
ohh. here you go again with that book.
i read it 2 years ago. i have not yet recoverd to be able to read it again.
the hardest, i have seen, from all Hesse work.
perhaps
Perseverance is benefical!
D!
May 31, 2009 at 12:26 pm
It is a humbling experience to read. I’m in awe, again.
I only read about 10 pages a day, and I’m a third of the way through.
No need to hurry, or rush things this time around. Siddhartha has
found his way into the future in this one. He brought his questions with.
Hermann also wrote fantastic fairy tales. Never seen anything like them.
Steppenwolfe (1927) is another one of my favorites. Mid-life crisis, yes, D!
May 31, 2009 at 3:43 pm
i wonder about you saying of Siddharth. many times i find that Hesse books are the same (it takes nothing of their greatness, maybe a reason for it). what i mean is, tey are build over a relationship between two friends, who start together and goes and different way to the same place. i must say that for me, though it is so heavy (for me, specially in english, though i promised ot myself to try and read it once in german) The Glass Bead is the best, it seems to hold the rest inside and more.
Steppenwolfe is the only one (from his well known, spoken once) i didn’t read yet. somehow.
May 31, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Dhyana, do you now, or did you once live in Germany?
I don’t know your background, or I missed it somewhere along
the way. It is a give and take, try this, try that, ‘move on, pilgrim’
theme that Hesse seems to stress over and over with differing
characters. Demian is about the relationship between mother and son,
but that one is totally weird and demonic, imo. I still enjoyed it.
I continue to wonder if Steppenwolf, the rock band, took their name from
Herm’s book. They were a bit dark with some wizardly thrown in.
Love the conversation with you, really. Thanks!
May 31, 2009 at 9:02 pm
i do now, matter of fact. learning german. tried to read Also Sprach Zarathrusta in german. scheisse, not easy at all.
yes his books are metaphores for the road called life, or so i see it. i did not read demian too, but again as you say it it is about those two characters. what i want to say, i guess, is, that he strees also the inner split of one or the multidimntions of one soul and as you say, one needs to try and see if one wants to learn.
as far as i know they did took their name from him, and as far as i remember i didn’t like their music so much. but that is only me. (wiki – Steppenwolf
The name-change from “Sparrow” to “Steppenwolf” was suggested to John Kay by Gabriel Mekler, being inspired by Hermann Hesse’s autobi…)
i enjoy it too. i am really happy i come to see you space here. and you of course.
blessings
D!
May 31, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Thanks for doing the research I was too lazy to do myself, Dhyana.
Interesting…Born To Be Wild was practically a theme when I was 18.
That’s a naive, but fairly optimistic anthem in a risky sort of way.
English is the only language I know, not that I have mastered it, no.
My dad was stationed in Germany, but not until after the war.
Someday, perhaps, I will learn what you’re doing there now and why.
It’s really none of my business, and I don’t mean to selfishly take up
all your time.
I live in Nebraska, and work in a factory. No secret there.
Forget the wild thing, it didn’t work out for obvious reasons.
Take care now, D!
June 1, 2009 at 10:43 am
it is somehow Dhyan, with out that ‘a’, though in Hindi, where it is coming from Dhyana means the same. ask some real indian.
what else, doing? unfortunatly or maybe not i am mainly improving, slowly, my writing skills and looking for a real work in the last too too many months. you don’t take my time at all, it is my pleasure and as i said i look for a work, i have too much time and this is one of the better ways to use this time i found. i am thankful.
i am here becouse of a girl
as for the rest, the time will come for it.
June 1, 2009 at 10:46 am
oh… about that english. i feel sad for native english talking people as they seem to usually be talking only one of them. it is a great thing to be able to talk in more then one. i have learned to appreciate it (even english, that in a way seems natural to any non native english), both for the comunication reason and for brain mind development.
D!
June 1, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Dear Dhyan,
(Do I have that right now? Do you go by Dee or Di?)
Good luck finding, and keeping a job. Times are tough, no doubt.
As far as your free time goes, I agree. This is better than watching TV.
You feel a bit sorry for me because I only speak English. That’s sweet.
Not necessary though, really, I don’t feel bad for myself, because you
and most of everybody else in the world knows English, thankfully. So…
if I can only speak one language, I think I was lucky enough to end up
with the right one. I wish I would have taken Latin, if anything.
Oh…about brain development. That makes me laugh right off the bat.
No use crying over spilled milk or loss of brain cells in my youth.
My turn. Are you holding a camera or a telescope in that pic? And what
do you mean you are not a real Indie person? You look real to me.
Again, thanks for all that. I luv meeting and getting to know folks all over.
Not literally, of course, I mean: worldwide connections. It’s thrilling!
June 2, 2009 at 7:41 am
o.k. maybe it was not so understood. first, if only one langauge it is better , in modern days, be it english. – not Indie But indian, as Hindi, as for where the name come from. i go with any name you feel like, i was born Guy any how and there are few who know my as Sayan, just thought is better to start off with the correct one, then yu can chose, i am not very attached to it.
by brain development i mean, knowing more then one language opens the mind into seeing different ways of thinking, or seeing things in different ways. as our thought constructed and limited by the our vocabulary and the meaning words carry. example. in german one is not worried but is worring himself. another way to look at it is there are many words that cannot be translated to another langauge. want to say for culture understanding and in this line, human understanding, it is good to have a 2nd (3rd and 4th) language.
it is a camera
D!
(sorry for all the spelling mistakes, somehow i do not feel like correcting it al now)
June 2, 2009 at 9:55 am
If you go by D!, Dhyan, I’ll go with that.
I know what you’re saying about language and brain development, but
there is no way I can experience the thought you wish to portray.
English is a hodge-podge(?) of words, so in a way, I do know a little.
Deprived? Maybe. Take care now, D!