A short History of Desiderata

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 ignorant: they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.


This poem is wrongly ascribed as having been found in old St Paul’s Church dated 1692. The year 1692 is in fact the founding date of St. Paul’s Church and has nothing to do with the poem.

Max Ehrmann wrote the poem in 1927.

This poem represents a philosophy that he developed throughout his life. He wrote in his diary in 1921

“I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift – a bit of haste prose that had caught up some noble moods.”

He sent out Christmas cards including the text of Desiderata in 1933.

When Adlai Stevenson died in 1965, a guest in his home found a copy of Desiderata near his bedside and discovered that Stevenson too had planned to use it in his Christmas cards. I am also reminded that Adlai Stevenson was a man who my mother always said inspired her.

This is a poem rife with applicability in today’s world. I remember it from my own childhood. My twin brother has a copy prominent above his workstation. I recall it from my time in the sixties. This poem found a foothold with those who embraced the philosophy of love and peace.

It seems to me that we need to remind ourselves of it perennial truths.

“Be Cheerful” or Be Careful”

There is some dispute regarding this phrase near the end of the poem. One of the publishers states that Ehrmann himself changed the wording. Another story is that an errant publisher accidentally changed it from “cheerful” to careful.”

I will during the development of this poem look at each option.

Picture - Coming from Evening Church - Samuel Palmer

Desiderata - List of Desires

Desiderata translates as list of desires. Today we are invited to have any number of desires. The teaching of the Buddha states that the cause of suffering begins with desire. However, desire is different from aspiration. Desire is more often linked to ego desire rather than the aspiration to express from the true Self. The difference between the two is wonderfully explained in the article by Sri Chinmoy

Talk on Desire
by Sri Chinmoy

Desire versus aspiration. Desire binds; aspiration liberates. Desire wants to possess; aspiration wants to renounce. Desire means plus, plus, plus material wealth. Aspiration means minus, minus, minus material wealth. Aspiration means plus, plus, plus spiritual wealth love, devotion, surrender, purity, gratitude and self-offering.

He who desires sings most pitifully his life's poverty-songs. He who aspires sings most soulfully God's Prosperity-Songs.

He who desires wants to possess each and every thing, each and every individual in the entire world. He who aspires wants only those things that will help him transcend his abundant limitations and teeming imperfections. He knows he that needs help, and the things that can help him he welcomes and invites to come to his rescue.

A desiring man prays to God to get God's all-conquering Power. An aspiring man meditates on God to get God's all-fulfilling Love. A man of desire wants to show the world his capacities, his strength. A man of aspiration devotedly and soulfully places all his incapacities-his insecurity, doubt, fear, uncomely thoughts and everything else that is unaspiring in him-at the Feet of his Lord Beloved Supreme.

A man of desire wants to dominate the world. He wants the whole world to surrender to him. A man of aspiration wants to establish his universal oneness-heart with the rest of the world. How? On the strength of his self-giving, which is the only way to bring about world peace.

A desire-intoxicated man, like Julius Caesar, wants to say to the world: "I came, I saw, I conquered." An aspiring inspiration-man wants to say to the world: "I came, I loved and I am becoming inseparably one with you."

A desire-intoxicated man at every moment wants to show his superiority and lord it over the world. An aspiring inspiration-man wants only God's Compassion-Eye to guide and lead the whole world to its ultimate Destination, the Destination that is flooded with infinite Light and Delight.

- Sri Chinmoy
From Sri Chinmoy Library
More Poems about Desire

Picture is The Fisherman and the Siren by Fredric Lord Leighton

The Invitation from Desiderata

“Go placidly amidst the noise and haste.”

This above is the first sentence from a poem by Max Ehrmann entitled Desiderata. This was written in the last century between the 1st and 2nd world wars. Desiderata translates from Latin as “things to be desired.”

This poem is designed to help you focus on a desire to “make your life matter.” Without the feeling that your life matters you are like a wounded angel. You are the one can really make your life matter. I will be encouraging you to do so because I believe it is the best way to find meaning and contentment throughout your life. It is the way to abundance and prosperity. It is the way toward healing the absence of Love in many lives.

In this blog I will be unfolding Max Ehrmann`s poem and develop it as a lesson in learning to live in the 21st Century. This is a practical lesson with tips and techniques that you apply in order to create a life that matters.

I will be encouraging you all the way. The most difficult aspect of making your life matter is that you make it more conscious. In doing so you will be subject to change. None of us likes change but it will happen. It is better to instigate it now rather than spend all your energies avoiding the inevitable.

Let us begin.

Desiderata

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 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 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 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 labours and aspirations
in the noisy confusion of life
keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham and drudgery and broken dreams
it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful. Strive to be happy.


Written by Max Ehrmann