What Grace Means to Me

Use this forum to post poetry that you have written. This is for getting comments and constructive feedback. This is for original, creative works. You must post the actual text, no links. Only one poem per topic please.
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ReyvrexQuestor Reyes
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Re: What Grace Means to Me

Post by ReyvrexQuestor Reyes »

Splendid.
"In the beginning was the word.........John 1:1"
...To delineate the times that lovers miss,
...A thousand dreams can't beat a single kiss.

-reyvrex (Love Sonnet 107)
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Post by atiqah91 »

To sum it up, one who masters the art of balance, will get the best of out of this world.
However, humans do make mistakes, and we are better because of it.
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behrenst
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Post by behrenst »

Neha_S wrote: 15 Jan 2021, 00:12 Its a beautiful thought which you have penned down beautifully. But I feel something is not right with 2 phrases
1 to be kind but not dishonest
2 to treat your flesh as your temple but not your true self.
Please ignore if you still don't feel so as may be we have different thoughts relating to these lines


I think what it means by "kind but not dishonest" is that at times we can be dishonest in an attempt to be kind, like when you're polite or kind to someone but you really don't respect them or respect the choices they make, yet in order to be kind and not mean you don't say anything so you're being fake... Dishonest... And to treat your flesh like your temple but not your true self is saying we are more than just our flesh, what you see in the flesh isn't who we are.
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EleniCotton
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Post by EleniCotton »

Neha_S wrote: 15 Jan 2021, 00:12 Its a beautiful thought which you have penned down beautifully. But I feel something is not right with 2 phrases
1 to be kind but not dishonest
2 to treat your flesh as your temple but not your true self.
Please ignore if you still don't feel so as may be we have different thoughts relating to these lines
Can I come in please?
1 I also had a problem with this. Is it that we should try to be kind without having lie about anything.
2 This is a warning that it is good to care for our bodies but should bear in mind that they are destructible and that our true self is our soul/spirit which lasts for ever.
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EleniCotton
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Post by EleniCotton »

I was unexpectedly moved by this. Scott, you have managed to encapsulate timeless thoughts with today's ideas and perceptions. There is an unexpected spirituality which appeals to me enormously and, in this respect were not fearful that some might think it dated and not relevant to life as we live it today.
It is however, very relevant although demonstrating timeless principles.
Liked it very much indeed. Thank you.
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Post by Rakhi manish »

Very nice poem this poem is true representation good and bad human emotions. It tells us about hope ,about trying to be good. It is hope of rising from ashes.
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roqlugo
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Post by roqlugo »

Some provocative, challenging and convicting thought. Also equally flighty and confusing. Worth re-reading for those deeper ideas.
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Post by Krishnajee100 »

A very beautiful writing. I can relate to some lines and even feel them. Lots of applauses for the writer :).
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Scott
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Post by Scott »

Thank you so much everyone for reading and for your wonderful replies and comments! :)

behrenst wrote: 18 Jan 2021, 02:09
Neha_S wrote: 15 Jan 2021, 00:12 Its a beautiful thought which you have penned down beautifully. But I feel something is not right with 2 phrases
1 to be kind but not dishonest
2 to treat your flesh as your temple but not your true self.
Please ignore if you still don't feel so as may be we have different thoughts relating to these lines


I think what it means by "kind but not dishonest" is that at times we can be dishonest in an attempt to be kind, like when you're polite or kind to someone but you really don't respect them or respect the choices they make, yet in order to be kind and not mean you don't say anything so you're being fake... Dishonest...
Yes, that is what I had in mind. :)

Another area where pseudo-kindness leading to dishonesty can arise is represented with the later idea of being assertive but not aggressive. Non-assertiveness, such as in the form of passive aggressiveness or emotional abuse, could be excused or motivated in the aggressor's mind as alleged kindness. Instead of saying how they feel bluntly and honestly, and letting that be that, a person may instead let it out in more drawn out, unhealthy, or destructive ways, as an attempted unhealthy subcommunication or in a pent up explosion. Even just a cliche nasty violent bully will often say things like, "I'm going to teach you a lesson," as if they are doing the victim a kind favor.

A more common example might be not telling a friend they have spinach in their teeth, or even lying to the friend's face when the friend asks if they have spinach in their teeth.

My intention is not that kindness and honesty are incompatible. Rather, the idea is that dishonesty can falsely be disguised as kindness, or falsely excused as kindness, but dishonesty is not true kindness in my book.

That represents part of the general format I was aiming for in most lines in the piece. For instance, aggressiveness could be falsely disguised as assertiveness; arrogance could be falsely disguised as confidence.

In that way, as I see it, gracefulness emerges not merely in a balance between two seeming opposites but also often in realizing that conscious human beings do not generally experience the world in a one-dimensional way. In other words, grace comes from realizing there is a third transcendental way of looking at most things that are often falsely treated as binary or one-dimensional, such that one can--so to speak--completely have their cake and completely eat it too. For example, I think one can be completely kind and completely honest; one can be completely assertive without being aggressive or passive aggressive at all. In another example, I don't think of confidence as being 50% arrogance and 50% extreme low self-esteem, but rather I see it as transcendental to the one dimension between arrogance and extreme low self-esteem, which is how confidence and humbleness can go hand in hand as a confident humbleness, or gracefulness, or simply grace.
"That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another's. We see so much only as we possess." - Henry David Thoreau

"Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco." Virgil, The Aeneid
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Post by Bigwig1973 »

Your poem brings many things to mind. The first thing was Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, then the seven deadly sins, then the porridge from "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (the bears want to have porridge at just the right temperature, just as people want others, and themselves to have just the right temperament), Nike's slogan "Just Do It", The "Bear Necessities" song from "The Jungle Book", and Whitman writing, "I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self-contained." The Doors song "Build Me a Woman", Alice from Wonderland...even voodoo potentially. I wondered why it was that mantras - that is almost what some of your lines seem to be to me - came about in the first place. And, I wondered why it wasn't until Aristotle, supposedly, that such ideas were compiled into a text. People are complex!
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Post by Iibiba »

Good piece of mindful thoughts and experience.
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Post by Francis Omotayo Aderogbin »

While reading this, this line jumped out at me, 'To pick your battles stingily, but fight the battles you pick with incredible stubborn determination.'

Too much message.
You are yet to be the best version of yourself. Keep refining.
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Scott
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Post by Scott »

Reading it now over a year later, this new line comes to me:

"To make less commitments, and wholeheartedly keep the commitments you make."
"That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another's. We see so much only as we possess." - Henry David Thoreau

"Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco." Virgil, The Aeneid
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Nicholet Haumann
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Post by Nicholet Haumann »

Love this poem. It is very meaningfull. 2 lines that stood out to me and spoke to me: 1. To choose to turn your life around before it is too late and there is no life left to turn around. 2. To achieve ultimate inner peace without having to first suffer ultimate outward devastation.
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Post by MamoJ »

Great poem. Most lines speak to me. But my best for now would be "To be at war in the material world, without losing inner peace."
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