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von Tabea Gregory, 1. März 2010
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As I attended the English-speaking seminar <em>Developing the Senses</em> by Peter Lutzker at the symposium in December 2009, I chose to write my essay in English as a tribute to this very inspiring time.
 
As I attended the English-speaking seminar <em>Developing the Senses</em> by Peter Lutzker at the symposium in December 2009, I chose to write my essay in English as a tribute to this very inspiring time.
  
<strong>Invictus</strong> (lat. unconquered)
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'''Invictus''' (lat. unconquered)
  
 
When life doesn’t go according to plan, people react very differently to it. Some get angry with life and they ask why it does those things to them. What did they do to earn it? Some resign themselves to it: “It’s my fate. It should be like that. I deserve it.” But it’s very easy to blame fate. If fate controls your whole life, you don’t have to take responsibility for anything. Neither for your faults nor for the good things that happen. Some give up, saying that it doesn’t make any sense to continue – life will never be easy. Why should I like to live it? Some explain their circumstances by luck and pity. Some start to work like maniacs to make it right again. And others see life as an ongoing process from which they can learn and develop themselves through tasks life gives them. It’s all just a way to deal with confrontations. But doesn’t the way you face a problem already change the situation completely?
 
When life doesn’t go according to plan, people react very differently to it. Some get angry with life and they ask why it does those things to them. What did they do to earn it? Some resign themselves to it: “It’s my fate. It should be like that. I deserve it.” But it’s very easy to blame fate. If fate controls your whole life, you don’t have to take responsibility for anything. Neither for your faults nor for the good things that happen. Some give up, saying that it doesn’t make any sense to continue – life will never be easy. Why should I like to live it? Some explain their circumstances by luck and pity. Some start to work like maniacs to make it right again. And others see life as an ongoing process from which they can learn and develop themselves through tasks life gives them. It’s all just a way to deal with confrontations. But doesn’t the way you face a problem already change the situation completely?
  
Many have thought about this theme and there are just as many approaches to it. After reading various literature I chose one piece of poem to take a closer look at the question: <strong>Can perspective create reality?</strong>
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Many have thought about this theme and there are just as many approaches to it. After reading various literature I chose one piece of poem to take a closer look at the question: '''Can perspective create reality?'''
  
 
The poem <em>Invictus</em> addresses the controversy between body and mind. It’s about a man who is subdued to sickness and age but who stays active in his mind. He believes in the undestroyable power of the soul. No matter how difficult his situation may be, he is still captain, he can choose what effect those things may have on him. It seems as if the author thinks that life is trying to defeat him and it is his challenge to stand against it.
 
The poem <em>Invictus</em> addresses the controversy between body and mind. It’s about a man who is subdued to sickness and age but who stays active in his mind. He believes in the undestroyable power of the soul. No matter how difficult his situation may be, he is still captain, he can choose what effect those things may have on him. It seems as if the author thinks that life is trying to defeat him and it is his challenge to stand against it.
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<poem>
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'''Invictus'''
<strong>Invictus</strong>
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<br /> By William Ernest Henley
  
By William Ernest Henley
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'''Out of the night that covers me,'''
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<br /> '''Black as the pit from pole to pole,'''
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<br /> '''I thank whatever gods may be'''
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<br /> '''For my unconquerable soul.'''
  
<strong>Out of the night that covers me,
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'''In the fell clutch of circumstance'''
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
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<br /> '''I have not winced nor cried aloud.'''
I thank whatever gods may be
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<br /> '''Under the bludgeoning of chance'''
For my unconquerable soul.
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<br /> '''My head is bloody, but unbowed.'''
  
In the fell clutch of circumstance
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'''Beyond this place of wrath and tears'''
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
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<br /> '''Looms but the horror of the shade,'''
Under the bludgeoning of chance
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<br /> '''And yet the menace of the years'''
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
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<br /> '''Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.'''
  
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
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'''It matters not how strait the gate,'''
Looms but the horror of the shade,
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<br /> '''How charged with punishments the scroll'''
And yet the menace of the years
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<br />''' I am the master of my fate:'''
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
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<br /> '''I am the captain of my soul.'''
 
 
It matters not how strait the gate,
 
How charged with punishments the scroll
 
I am the master of my fate:
 
I am the captain of my soul.</strong>
 
</poem>
 
  
  
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I am the master of my fate:
 
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
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<br /> I am the captain of my soul.
  
<em>Tabea Gregory</em>
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''Tabea Gregory''
  
 
== Links ==
 
== Links ==
 
Zurück zum [[Inhaltsverzeichnis der eingereichten Essays]]
 
Zurück zum [[Inhaltsverzeichnis der eingereichten Essays]]

Aktuelle Version vom 16. Juni 2010, 12:01 Uhr

von Tabea Gregory, 1. März 2010

As I attended the English-speaking seminar Developing the Senses by Peter Lutzker at the symposium in December 2009, I chose to write my essay in English as a tribute to this very inspiring time.

Invictus (lat. unconquered)

When life doesn’t go according to plan, people react very differently to it. Some get angry with life and they ask why it does those things to them. What did they do to earn it? Some resign themselves to it: “It’s my fate. It should be like that. I deserve it.” But it’s very easy to blame fate. If fate controls your whole life, you don’t have to take responsibility for anything. Neither for your faults nor for the good things that happen. Some give up, saying that it doesn’t make any sense to continue – life will never be easy. Why should I like to live it? Some explain their circumstances by luck and pity. Some start to work like maniacs to make it right again. And others see life as an ongoing process from which they can learn and develop themselves through tasks life gives them. It’s all just a way to deal with confrontations. But doesn’t the way you face a problem already change the situation completely?

Many have thought about this theme and there are just as many approaches to it. After reading various literature I chose one piece of poem to take a closer look at the question: Can perspective create reality?

The poem Invictus addresses the controversy between body and mind. It’s about a man who is subdued to sickness and age but who stays active in his mind. He believes in the undestroyable power of the soul. No matter how difficult his situation may be, he is still captain, he can choose what effect those things may have on him. It seems as if the author thinks that life is trying to defeat him and it is his challenge to stand against it.

Is life really something you have to “survive” or could it be your ally – provided you know how to handle it? Can your attitude towards life change life itself?

That’s the way I see it. I’m a diabetic and in addition I’m affected by an urticaria, a skin disease which also goes inside the body and causes much pain. I often pity myself because my fate seems so much harder than others’. But then again I ask myself: Why is this a part of my life? Can I learn something from it? Is my body telling me something I wouldn’t have listened to if it wasn’t so obtrusive? I believe that life is constantly talking to us. It always reflects our selves. Yes, maybe it’s a difficult precondition to be a diabetic. It’s genetic; I couldn’t have done anything to prevent it. But I can change the way I encounter it. It could be considered as an ideal and it doesn’t always work that way but I am convinced that ideals carry us through life and help us to strive forward.

This poem was written in 1875 and first published in 1888 in Henley's Book of Verses. The idea of the poem was probably inspired by the difficult situation he found himself in from the age of 12 until he was 25. He suffered from tuberculosis of the bone and as the illness progressed, the only way to save his life was to amputate his leg. The lines below were formed in the hospital bed after the amputation.


Invictus
By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


The effect this poem obviously can have on people is impressive: There was a frenzied attacker whoused it as his parole and a serial killer quoted it as his final statement before being executed on the electric chair. This shows that the poem can be interpreted to be a call for rebellion. It speaks to those who have an unrelenting attitude and therefore feel vindicated by it. On the other hand there was Nelson Mandela who read this poem as a consolation during his time in prison. For him the message stood for the suppression under which the Blacks had to suffer in the time of the apartheid and the will of so many to stand against it. Nelson Mandela fought against injustice with the conviction that every man can form his destiny and the need to keep believing in it. A film based on the biography of Nelson Mandela titled Invictus recently had its premier in the German cinemas.

Looking at the poem with reference to the theme Reality leads to the following questions: What is reality? Can one really separate himself from the situation he is in? Is a soul “unconquerable”? Can one always be the captain of the situation? Is it even human to be able to bear all kinds of pain and never give in? Probably not.

The common basis of these questions is whether the soul is external or an inseparable part of us. I think in this case that’s not the main point. The poem rather transports a deep feeling of willpower and the drive which is hidden in every single one of us. And it points out our capability to change our reality. The moment we think it changes, it has already changed.

One has to consider that it matters a lot which belief system is rooted in the subconscious mind because that is way stronger than the conscious thoughts. You can think of yourself whatever you like, if your thoughts don’t coincide with your belief system, they won’t have a great impact. As long as your thoughts are incompatible with your subconscious mind, they will stay illusions. But as soon as they are, they can form your reality.

In this context the soul could be a symbol for the choice one has in every situation in life. Not the choice one has about ones circumstances but the ability to choose the way of dealing with them. No one can tell you what to want. The will is unassailable. Maybe that is what Henley talks about: The soul is a stronghold for ideals and morals which no one and nothing can invade.

Those lines, they give me strength. They convince me I am no victim of circumstances. I say it aloud. I say it again:

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Tabea Gregory

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