Carpe fatum, my friends.

Today we will not examine the stories of great leaders or epic soldiers, but rather:

Poetry.

You heard me.

Today we will see that living the examined life does not just consist of fighting battles and thinking critically, but it also entails moments of appreciation toward the life we are living, and the notion of life in general.

And there is no one better at doing that than Walt Whitman.

Many are horrified by the incomprehensibly massive scale of the universe. Many shiver at the thought of the complete disregard the greater cosmos seems to have for our existence; that we are specks of dust, floating aimlessly in an eternal void.

Mr. Whitman would respond to that by saying “it is true that we are specks of dust,MAGNIFICENT specks amongst a MAGNIFICENT cosmos!”

In this journal, I will include the second half of Whitman’s poem Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling.The entire poem, as well as the book it is in (From Noon to Starry Night), can be found here.
The poem acts as sort of love-letter to the sun. He declares his admiration for it, as the sun never fails to uphold its duty: sharing its light with all.

Thou that with fructifying¹ heat and light,
O’er myriad² farms, o’er lands and waters North and South,
O’er Mississippi’s endless course, o’er Texas’ grassy plains, Canada’s woods,
O’er all the globe that turns its face to thee shining in space,
Thou that impartially enfoldest all, not only continents, seas,
Thou that to grapes and weeds and little wild flowers givest so liberally,
Shed, shed thyself on mine and me, with but a fleeting ray out of thy million millions,

Strike through these chants.
Nor only launch thy subtle dazzle and thy strength for these,
Prepare the later afternoon of me myself–prepare my lengthening shadows,
Prepare my starry nights.

Absolutely beautiful.

After reading this, I am moved to a different part of my mind.
A quieter part; a part that will take a moment to sit in awe of the massive world in which I live. That is the magic of Whitman. He grabs you by the collar of your shirt and flies you over rolling fields, guides you through deep and ancient woods, launches you into space and then hurls you into the sea! He lifts you up into the atmosphere to gaze down upon the world like an eagle in flight, then brings you down gently to the earth to observe the most delicate flower in a wild meadow.

He finally asks you to stand with him in amazement of the mighty cosmos above and below you. He stares in the face of mortality, while at the same time appreciating the simple beauty of a starry night.

You see, Walt teaches us the most important lesson of all: to appreciate is to examine.

What will you appreciate today?

Carpe Fatum, magnificent dust.

Sincerely,

The Golden Scribe

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” -Socrates

¹ To make fruitful
² Countless

Day: January 10, 2019

George Botros
Chief Executive Officer

George BotrosChief Executive Officer

George Botros
Chief Executive Officer