A Question
The title of my blog is a partial quotation from T.S. Eliot. He says, "For us, there is only the trying." I have always really liked this quotation because it reminds me why we fail and why we need to try again anyways.
Ever since I started referring to this quotation, many people through email or comments have countered with a quotation from a more well known, though perhaps less credible source. I am continually reminded that Yoda says, "Do or do not. There is no try."
So which one is more important? Should we look at our actions and goals as mere attempts and keep on, or should we only do, with no option for failure?
P.S. Should we consider the source, or just the value of what was said?
Ever since I started referring to this quotation, many people through email or comments have countered with a quotation from a more well known, though perhaps less credible source. I am continually reminded that Yoda says, "Do or do not. There is no try."
So which one is more important? Should we look at our actions and goals as mere attempts and keep on, or should we only do, with no option for failure?
P.S. Should we consider the source, or just the value of what was said?
posted by Cate at 8:19 AM
8 Comments:
Yoda had a midichlorian count of over 17,000 ( http://www.supershadow.com/starwars/midi.html ) He is matched in this feat only by Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker. My guess is that Eliot can't touch this. Given that, I see no reason to care about what he says. =)
But even so, Eliot's words seem wrong. It's not that for us there is *only* the trying--because some of us sometimes will do more than merely try. We will do.
Perhaps it's more accurate to say then, "For the losers, there is only the trying. For everyone else, there's some trying, some failing, and some doing." But maybe he was addressing only the losers of this world. That would be disappointing (though perhaps not surprising).
Or perhaps the thing that changes us and leaves marks on our soul is the trying, and in that sense, for both winners and losers, there is only the trying that matters. It's the trying, not to outcome that shapes us. And that seems right to at least some degree.
psh. "for us there is only the trying?" come on.
i've heard it said somewhere: "do, or do not. there is no try."
and i've always tried to live by those words.
OK, now I am developing a theory. Boys would rather follow the words of a Jedi than a poet.
maybe some context would help. perhaps yoda and eliot are in fact addressing entirely different issues. ;-)
my guess, from a little google research (no, i have never seen star wars, i'm sorry), is that yoda is addressing action and attitude. i'm not so sure eliot is trying to make a point about that.
(from East Coker, No. 2 of the 4 Quartets)
So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years—
Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres
Trying to use words, and every attempt
Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure
Because one has only learnt to get the better of words
For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which
One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture
Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate
With shabby equipment always deteriorating
In the general mess of imprecision of feeling,
Undisciplined squads of emotion. And what there is to conquer
By strength and submission, has already been discovered
Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope
To emulate—but there is no competition—
There is only the fight to recover what has been lost
And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions
That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.
For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.
But don't you see--Yoda *just is* the poet of our day!
Who is this annonymous and why are they talking like Dr. Reynolds? Show yourself!
That is the best thing I've heard all session.
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