OR IS IT?

OR IS IT?

All men are equal

Yet very few are

Some pause at nowhere

And others go far

You’re taught all your ideals

To find few who keep

Them as you’re told to

Awake, or asleep,

The Child is the Father

Or so it is said,

Yet even in childhood 

Indifference is bred

A quorum of billions

A lone, single soul

A balance of equals

Or a thing to enroll?

(Or is it – inrole?)

All men are equal

Perhaps this is true

But not in the living

And not as they do;

Some men are driven

By doom, and by fate,

Some will learn early

Some will learn late

Some never catch on

Pity them, yes?

Some will gain nothing

Not knowing it yet,

Some will have treasures

Envy them, no?

Advantage breeds profit

(Or is it – plunder?)

Or didn’t you know?

Some will find searching

Some never do,

Which is the better?

I leave that to you

Some will have false peace

Some will have war

Though no fault of their nature

She’s adored, he’s abhorred;

 Some will thrive greatly

Some will fall hard

Is it luck or Good Fortune?

Or the skill of the Bard?

You want I should tell you?

Hell, I’ve never known

Yet even unwitting

I still play along

For the Chance or the Purpose

That I may be one

Such men as are disposed

To know what they’ve won

For all men are equal

Admit it or not

For no one is certain

If paid, or if bought,

Cause all men are equal

Even when not

For man is a mortal

(Or is it – a man is immortal?

Either way, eh)

What a Gordian Knot…

 

THE PEERAGE OF GREAT EQUALS

I don’t have any idols. Never have, and never will, either real or fictional. I have people I admire, and would like to emulate in some way or another (not emulate in other ways) but not idols. Certainly not like modern people seem to think of idols. In the sense that I’d like to be someone else or that I would ever fawn over anyone else. I never would. I have only ever wanted to be me. And I would never fawn over me, much less any other man. To me that is both low, and ignorant.

And I don’t think of the people I admire and would like to emulate in some way as my rivals, but rather as exemplars of some particular capability or trait. And likely and potential friends with whom I would work well together or some important project or endeavor. To me to instinctively think of other great men as my natural and necessary rivals is both low and arrogant. So in those senses I totally disagree with this sentiment.

However I think that the underlying implication is that you want to work your way up to being a Peer and an Equal (in the sense of your on capabilities) with other great men and women, rather than forever remain a subordinate or inferior (in action and ability). And in that respect I agree with the sentiment expressed below.

I have always believed in the Peerage (and Friendship) of Great Equals. I think that is what this is really trying to convey. Unfortunately modern people are so filled with the petty pop culture modern bullshit of fawning over and being obsequious towards others, sometimes of actually wanting to be and of idolizing others (rather than their abilities and capabilities), or of being jealous of others (a very petty and puny vice indeed), and just instinctively think of other Great Men and Women as natural rivals rather than what they truly are – potential Peers and Friends and as Great Men and Women with whom you could work to achieve even more together than you could separately.

So in that respect the only way far too many modern people seem to reflexively understand other Great Men and Women is as either idols and/or rivals. And thinking of other men as idols is just plain juvenile, whereas thinking of other men as natural and unavoidable rivals is not necessarily Wise at all. These habits and ideals seem more engrained by uncritical and unexamined instinct than by malicious intent. Still, I think them small and counter-productive for the most part.

But I don’t think of other men in that way at all. First of all I think of all men as my equals, neither inferior nor superior. And secondly I think of all men as being my potential peers if they so wish.

I think of it as the Peerage of Great Equals.

And that’s exactly what I mean to be, the Peer and Equal of Other Great Men.

But I will never idolize them, anymore than I wish to be idolized, nor are other men my instinctive rivals. Just as likely they are my as yet unrealized friends and peers.