Modern Day Gurus & the Life of Quotes (Day 8)
I'm susceptible to quotations, I think in them, and sometimes quotations answer one another, back and forth in my mind. Truth agrees with itself, echoes across millennia. Writers who never met, who never read one another, may same the same thing, ages apart. That fascinates me! As does this metaphysical aphorism by poet, mentor and friend, James Richardson, who is given to these kinds of dizzying reflections: "Writer: how books read each other." How marvelous to consider (if just for a moment), that ideas have their own lives, books their destinies, and we are mere vessels, mouth pieces ushered on and offstage to deliver them.
Today's poem is about modern day gurus, the qualified and unqualified, but also (obliquely) about how books read each other, and quotes that ricochet throughout the corridors of time.
What does this Age need most?
Give me M.O.T.I.V.A.T.I.O.N!
How else to explain the prevalence
of life coaches: good, bad and dubious?
Can Life no longer be relied upon
to do her job, don't we trust ourselves?
Some say that Love is the only life coach
the rest are assistants or impostors
It's not enough to have a good meal, once
physical hunger, like spiritual thirst,
renew themselves, daily, hourly...
some mine the past for inspiration
The past is endless that way, as Faulkner says:
"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
Tradition offers us much sustenance,
yet we set it aside, preferring a fresh start
Without the guidance of our ancient wisdom
the sly student steps up, posing as teacher.
Long before Erasmus said: "In the land of the blind,
the one-eyed man is king."
This proverb appears, in the 4th or 5th century,
in Genesis Rabbah: בשוק סמייא צווחין לעווירא סגי נהור
reminding us that, "In the street of the blind,
the one-eyed man is called the Guiding Light."
© Yahia Lababidi
(Images: Pixabay 1, Unsplash 2
This is my entry for Day 8 of @d-pend's The 100 Day Poetry Challenge. To join this movement, please, visit Steemit School on discord founded by @Dobartim
Great poem. I love how you reference Genesis at the end of your poem and tie it to the historic words of Erasmus. I really enjoy how your poems talk about spiritual things and your words delve to the depths of what it is to be a human being.
Thank you, Steveo, for being such a good listener (just sharing with my wife, earlier today, our radio encounter). Yes, once again, it boils down to spiritual matters and the depths of our humanity, as you say. I'm hardly conscious of these things, but I suppose poems are also a way of pressing existence for answers.
I think satisfaction is the main thing for life .
Nice poem dear
Amazing... I love the inspiraiton behind this - I very much consider myself a vessel more than a writer -
We are just undertaking the will of the Universe!
Beautiful writing! As always!
Thank you for this wisdom!
With Love
Hart Floe Poet
<3
Glad you enjoyed the poem, my friend, and identified with the reading notes. As Milosz says (in Ars Poetica) '[we] hope that good spirits, not evil ones, choose us for their instrument.'
_/|\_You definitely got many good spirits running through you my friend.. that's easy to feel!
Glad to have met you my friend... Many wise people here!
With Love
Hart Floe Poet
<3
Wow, these are some wonderful lines with soothing effect Bud, Yahia <3
Cheers, Salman ✌🏼
I imagine you know what I mean by fake gurus and false prophets.
I'm always a fan of your poem, and I think the inquisitive nature of this one made it quite inviting. Thanks for sharing! (Even though it's for that contest thingy, so I guess you had to share anyways :P )
Well, I don't have to share and I didn't have to share this particular poem :P But, I chose to, and now, because it felt right in our confused day and age... Good you found it inviting :)
Wonderful mate, and congrats on your win
Thanks, for reading and your support.
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