This used to be one of the most famous poems in the English language. Maybe it still is, I don’t know. The basic idea is that blindness prevents the author from using his talents to serve God. This troubles him but then he remembers that we serve God not only by doing but also by not doing. He says it like this in the famous last line: “They also serve [God] who only stand and wait.” <\/p>\n
Milton was a Christian, and the poem is about surrender as Christians understand it. But nothing stops us from noticing that the following message is consistent with the one Milton intended:<\/p>\n
Sadhana is service to God, and sadhana is non-doing.<\/em> <\/p>\n I happened to run across this poem today after I was told, hopefully for the last time, that I should do nothing. To celebrate this synchronicity I publish this brief article. There is even more synchronicity here than that because the poem describes what might be — who knows? — my last vasana, regret at not having used the talent God gave me.<\/p>\n No poems were hurt in the making of this post.<\/p>\n When I consider how my light is spent, This used to be one of the most famous poems in the English language. Maybe it still is, I don’t know. The basic idea is that blindness prevents the author from using his talents to serve God. This troubles him but then he remembers that we serve God not only by doing but also by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6YVpx-Br","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2321"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2337,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions\/2337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Poem<\/h4>\n
\n Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
\n And that one Talent which is death to hide
\n Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
\nTo serve therewith my Maker, and present
\n My true account, lest he returning chide;
\n \u201cDoth God exact day-labour, light denied?\u201d
\n I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
\nThat murmur, soon replies, \u201cGod doth not need
\n Either man\u2019s work or his own gifts; who best
\n Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
\nIs Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
\n And post o\u2019er Land and Ocean without rest:
\n They also serve who only stand and wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"