#3 "If" by Rudyard Kipling
A poem as a series of life tasks. Can base inclinations be transmuted into higher-order actions?
A poem Rudyard Kipling wrote for his son, titled ‘If’, resonates through time.
I always think of this poem as a series of life tasks. Can base inclinations be transmuted to higher-order actions? What kind of energy does that take? Can it
become a habit?
This poem is gendered, English, many -isms — but think of when you have seen the crucible activities in it enacted in your own life and in the people you have known closely.
Like the classic series of yoga poses ritualized in Bikram yoga, or the barre techniques that comprise the core of ballet, perhaps there is a core of universal human strengths that can be developed to enhance the expression of our individual lives.
Read and enjoy.