Proverbs on Ideological Idealism

September 20, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is good and evil in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on September 18.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A set of proverbs about the evil of ideological idealism:

PROVERBS ON IDEOLOGICAL IDEALISM

1.         Ideological idealism is an idealism that is so sure it is right that it is willing to impose its vision on an unwilling world.

2.         Ideals ought to be mountains to guide one’s chosen way, not blueprints for a prison to keep people behind bars for their own good.

3.         Non-ideological idealists devote their lives first to people and then perhaps to an organization or cause. Ideological idealists devote their lives first to an organization or cause and then perhaps to people.

4.         Cynicism, lust, and greed tend to cause less evil than ideological idealism since their evil is committed in pursuit of some limited selfish end, whereas the evil of ideological idealism is committed in pursuit of unachievable ends and therefore knows no bounds.

5.         One ought not be frightened away from idealism by the dangers of ideological idealism since once the differences between them become apparent, it should not be difficult to devote oneself to one and avoid the other.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/provid.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Good and Evil

9/17: Cynicism Comes from Self-Disgust

9/18: You Wrap Your Mind Around the Consequence

9/19: Year After Year, You Promise to Atone

9/20: Proverbs on Ideological Idealism

Year After Year, You Promise to Atone

September 19, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is good and evil in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on September 18.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem for Yom Kippur about an inability to recognize how deeply one is implicated in the evil of one’s world:

Year after year, you promise to atone.

Often, yes, you actually mean it.

Maybe you remember life's on loan,

Knowing you're expected to redeem it.

Into prayers you pour your willing heart,

Perhaps at times unsure of what you've done,

Perhaps at times unsure of where to start,

Uncovering what look like sins, though none

Requires much atonement on your part.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yearaf.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Good and Evil

9/17: Cynicism Comes from Self-Disgust

9/18: You Wrap Your Mind Around the Consequence

9/19: Year After Year, You Promise to Atone

You Wrap Your Mind Around the Consequence

September 18, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is good and evil in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on September 18.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A secular view for Yom Kippur of why one should be good rather than evil:

You wrap your mind around the consequence

Of sin not having any consequence.

Murderers, torturers, pimps, thieves in the end

Know they’ll share with saviors the same end.

If this is true, what reason to do good?

Perhaps there is an inner music good

People hear that evil people miss,

Universal love no soul should miss,

Radiance no one-time soul should miss.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/youwra.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Good and Evil

9/17: Cynicism Comes from Self-Disgust

9/18: You Wrap Your Mind Around the Consequence

Cynicism Comes from Self-Disgust

September 17, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is good and evil in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on September 18.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A philosophical poem about how cynicism comes from a lack of balance in one’s vision of good and evil:

Cynicism comes from self-disgust,

Yearning for a world one has surrendered.

No vision is complete but in repose,

Implicit in the steady gaze within.

Come, then, to know that good and evil must

In everyone with due respect be rendered,

So delicate their dance, as much in those

Not cynical as in those steeped in sin.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/cynici.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Good and Evil

9/17: Cynicism Comes from Self-Disgust

Swinging Low in Chariots

September 16, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of both the Jewish and Islamic New Years.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem about the demise of faith in modern times:

Swinging low in chariots

Each band of angels holds its fire,

Thinking we poor fools below

Have all the pain that we require.

And the mountains in reply

Nod their drifty, rock-wreathed heads,

Drawing back bold deities,

Leaving us in anguished beds.

O, Mary, neither weep nor mourn

Remembering the fuel-less flame,

Remembering the love of God,

A thing we called "Ha-Shem," the Name.

In everyone there is a Name;

No ecstasies beyond our heads:

Each alone must tend the fire.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chario.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith

9/10: O Lord, Our Hope and Our Redeemer

9/11: Aisha

9/12: Agostino

9/13: Faith

9/14: Jordyn

9/15: Zechariah

9/16: Swinging Low in Chariots

Zechariah

September 15, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of both the Jewish and Islamic New Years.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A name poem for a prophet of reason:

Zechariah is consumed by longing

Even as he cherishes his state.

Choosing reason rather than belonging,

He feels the pathos of his complex fate.

A modern prophet must be only human,

Relinquishing the myths of god and tribe.

In visions passionate, he must illumine

A glory that needs neither faith nor bribe,

Having a domain he can describe.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/zechar.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith

9/10: O Lord, Our Hope and Our Redeemer

9/11: Aisha

9/12: Agostino

9/13: Faith

9/14: Jordyn

9/15: Zechariah

Jordyn

September 14, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of both the Jewish and Islamic New Years.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A name poem for someone who describes the indescribable:

Jordyn speaks in parables,

Opening a veil,

Rendering beatitude

Dressed up as a tale,

Yielding what one cannot see

Now radiant, but in braille.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/jordyn.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith

9/10: O Lord, Our Hope and Our Redeemer

9/11: Aisha

9/12: Agostino

9/13: Faith

9/14: Jordyn