The words in this poem are simple and familiar, but the deep meaning of the poem is only revealed by guided study.

(Click "The..." at left for more detail.)

This poem states the essence of the empowerment teachings on IDEAFARM.COM. Understand this poem, and you will understand the teachings. But to understand the poem without reading the mind of the poet, you must master the teachings as his student.

For example, the se'th verse is not about women. It is about the jungle. In the jungle, every living thing is a predator. In the jungle, every human male is a killer, and every human female is what would today be called a "street bride". To be more than a killer or a whore, a human must be of the village, not of the jungle. The Christian understanding of self as "in the world but not of it" is an example of this idea. [See]

Had the poem been written by a female, the se'th verse would have been:

Every teaching on IDEAFARM.COM is this way! Words communicate meaning by activating parts of our world view and values and life experience. Written communication between a writer and a reader only works when the writer and reader have enough in common that the reader can correctly guess what the writer was thinking. For this reason, feedback is crucially important.

Almost every visitor will misunderstand the teachings on IDEAFARM.COM before receiving guidance. The most important function of the student / teacher protocol is that it enables the teacher to iteratively guide the student in his/her effort to discover the intended meaning. Although the teachings on IDEAFARM.COM explain the poem, they are each like the poem in that each teaching will likely be misunderstood initially. They are concise statements of subtle ideas, and they are not intended to, nor can they, stand alone. They are intended as conversation openers for unguided dialog between students of the form, "What you you think he means by this?", as well as guided classroom discussion.

Think of the teachings presented on IDEAFARM.COM, not as chapters in a textbook, but as an outline of ideas that indicate what will be covered in the classroom. They are for use by the student, who is expected to prepare for the classroom experience by reflecting upon the ideas and discussing, with other students, what each idea might mean. With this preparation, the student is then expected to participate in the classroom experience in order to discover the intended meaning of each idea.