Class – FUNCTIONAL RESTORATIVE – Poets & Poses – Ralph Waldo Emerson & Walt Whitman – November 13, 2020
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RALPH WALDO EMERSON
…..the man of self reliance
- Urges you to follow your individual “will and fortitude of right and wrong” instead of conforming to social expectations.
- Emphasizes following one’s own voice rather than the voice of others ……true self
- Encourages you to be honest in your relationships with others.
“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win.
If you are intrigued with Emerson,s revelations regarding his ‘LIFE FORCE” take 15 minutes and listen to this clip.
To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children,
to leave the world a better place,
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived,
this is to have succeeded.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson –
Walt Whitman
is America’s world poet—a latter-day successor to Homer, Dante and Shakespeare. He was inspiredby fellow poet Emerson.
Whitman’s poetry often focused on both loss and healing. Whitman believed the self is in hemeostasis where the soul is equal to the body. Whitman applies the theory of democracy to the self. If the self is democracy, then everything within that democracy must be equal including the body and soul.
His most famous collection, Leaves of Grass marked a radical departure from established poetic norms. Tradition was discarded in favor of a voice that came at the reader directly, in the first person, in lines that didn’t rely on rigid meter and instead exhibited an openness to playing with form while approaching prose.
Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun…. there are millions of suns left,
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand…. nor look through the eyes of the dead…. nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.
re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: The First (1855) Edition
Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.
I have learned that to be with those I like is enough
Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.
Be curious, not judgmental.
I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.
If you want to hear more about “THE GOOD GRAY POET” who revolutionized poetry’ listen to this 3:24 minute clip.
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One of the blessings of this COVID time has been having access to Barbara Crompton’s yoga classes online live and ‘on demand’!
While she looks and acts 24 years old, Barbara has over half a century of life wisdom and mastery of tools to help people grow in body, mind and spirit. She brings all this exceptional value to her classes. She is the real deal – leads by the example of how she lives her life – in abundance, in service to others, fearless through all obstacles in her own life, and always joyous.
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