How It Works

1. Read the poem 

2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

4. Use the selection of prompts below

5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

My Creed

This is what I believe:

That I am I.

That my soul
is a dark forest.
That my known self
will never be more
than a little clearing
in the forest.

That gods,
strange gods,
come forth
from the forest
into the clearing
of my known self,
and then go back.

That I must
have the courage
to let them come
and go.

That I will never
let mankind put
anything over me,

but that I will try
always to recognize
and submit to the gods
in me and the gods
in other men and women.

There is my creed.

—D. H.Lawrence
https://redtreetimes.com/2024/04/18/creed-everyday-gods/

If you wish to attend the read around (t’s free, fun, a great way to share, and reading a poem is optional). Note: If you registered already, you do not need to register again, simply use the link sent to you in your confirmation email. Register Here:

The next Read-Around is 7/9/26 at
5:00 PM PDT — 8:00 PM EDT

My Thoughts

D. H. Lawrence crafted his creed after reading Benjamin Franklin's 13 virtues, which Franklin formulated when 20 years old and used as guiding principles to live a good and moral life. A line in Franklin’s autobiography—Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe—inspired Lawrence to compose his own poetic creed against Franklin’s certitude. Lawrence was keen to the contradictions and complexities of heart and soul that we must navigate throughout our lives. How are we to know ourselves when we host a multitude, when we are composed of multiple intelligences operating independently, when we are so often unaware of our own deeper fears and desires? One way of thinking about these volitional forces operating outside or beyond our conscious control is to consider them as (little “g”) “gods.” Lawrence’s poem, My Creed, expresses this idea beautifully and describes the kind of relationship we might have to the unknown parts of ourselves, parts that often have their own agendas, as gods that come and go.

How we deal with the forces both within and without is even more critical in the dawn of artificial intelligence—AI. So, lately I've been exploring a different kind of AI – Authentic Intelligence. The word authentic comes from the Greek origins meaning to act genuinely or to act on one's own authority. Authentic Intelligence is a kind of intelligence that allows us to act in a way that is true to ourselves as a whole. To do so, we must sometimes navigate inevitable conflicts between our head and our heart, between our own needs and desires and the needs and desires of others; between safety and risk, etc. These are rarely easy matters and often serve as the grindstone against which we sharpen ourselves. What do we do when the gods within and around us come with their demands? Lawrence’s Creed suggests we must learn to receive them, to honor them, to pay tribute when necessary, to let them go and then, as best we can, to act genuinely in a way that is true to ourselves as a whole. 

Prompt Ideas

1. Journal or write a poem about your own Creed. Title it My Creed or start with the line: This is what I beleive…

2. Lawrence uses the metaphor of a dark forest for the soul. In what way is your soul (whatever that may mean to you) like a dark forest? What other metaphor might serve to represent your relationship to the soul (your whole self or whatever you consider is larger than your known self)?

3. Journal or write a poem about your “known self.”

4. Lawrence says that “gods, strange gods,” come and go from his soul. What strange gods come and go from the unknown self into the known self for you?

5. Journal or write a poem about the courage to the strange gods come and go in you. How might you make a clearing or space for the gods from your unknown self to come and go? How might you submit to them, pay tribute to them, or honor them?

6. Lawrence says that he wants to let the gods come and go while also declaring that he will not let mankind put anything over him. Journal or write about a time when the social world tried to put something over you.

7. How do you know when you are acting genuinely or in a way that honors the parts of you and is true to yourself? 

8. As usual, write about whatever else inspires you form the poem or from life.