The highest talent

An epigram by F. Schiller translated by J.M. Rakotolahy

The highest talent

 

 

Are you looking for the highest, the greatest talent?

The plants can teach it to you:

What they can achieve unresistingly

You must accomplish willfully.

That is the talent.

Reviews

[Andrew Dunham]

I love this... it speaks of the simplicity of BEING. We all try to make our lives complicated and eventful in order to reassure ourselves that we are necessary and worthwhile... all the time overcompensating for a deep belief that we are worthless and insignificant. Some become famous, powerful, wealthy, ubiquotous... and yet does it bring us closer to the depth of eternity and the knowledge of who we are? Not one jot.

Here, Schiller is deftly pointing out that our single task while here is primarily to BE. Now, there are inevitably processes that come with this- in his picture, it is a plant, which necessarily must be seeded, grow by absorbing and converting, to produce leaves, to flower, to shed, to die. As it is with huimanity. And yet the plant does all this without a need to prove anything, without dominating or submission, without regrets or desires.

And yet, as he points out, we must do this "wilfully"... we must set our minds to it and be conscious of our wandering thoughts. Our minds lead us astray, and yet we are so accustomed to it that we accept it and indulge. Yes, this is the talent, perhaps the one most useful talent which we never expected we would need to learn. The art of doing nothing.

[Tony]

Once again, you have used a few words to say what truly is. This one is now printed and taped to my refrigerator.

[Irfan Shah]

Simple and beautiful. Well done. I wish I had any suggestions to offer but its just perfect the way it is.

[Emily B]

These words reminded me of some others. I had to share:

THE GRASS so little has to do,-
A sphere of simple green,
With only butterflies to brood,
And bees to entertain,

And stir all day to pretty tunes
The breezes fetch along,
And hold the sunshine in its lap
And bow to everything;

And thread the dews all night, like pearls,
And make itself so fine,-
A duchess were too common
For such a noticing.

And even when it dies, to pass
In odors so divine,
As lowly spices gone to sleep,
Or amulets of pine.

And then to dwell in sovereign barns,
And dream the days away,-
The grass so little has to do,
I wish I were a hay!
--Emily Dickinson

[Emily B]

Wise words. Much can be learned if we listen to nature.

[TamerQtaish]

So my friend your kinda a straight shooter!
I loved that with words, simple 4 lines into a hell of a meaning... pretty much heavy, Andrew totally took it into a topic, great job there too...
Thanks for your review and sorry for my late response, but I wasn't much around lately.

All the best,
Tamer Qtaish