Talk:Serenity Prayer
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I can find no evidence that Niebuhr was ever associated with the "Confessing Church" of German protestants during the Nazi era, nor the "Confessing Movement" of very conservative protestants here in the USA.
We accept things, not because we agree with what is done to us, but to free ourselves from resentments. It is for purely personal reasons. If someone wrongs me, I accept that there is nothing I can do to change the past and nothing I can do to change the kind of person he is. I accept not for any benifit to him but simply to give myself peace of mind. I can however change my thoughts, behaviors, and actions, regarding the way I react to harms that are done to me. 207.157.121.50 07:36, 6 October 2005 (UTC)mightyafrowhitey
My take:
I know when I suffer - I am unhappy when the person or thing I want to change won't change to satisfy me, and I can find no peace until I get the change I want. But that is my false belief. It amazes me that at the moment I surrender and accept that I cannot make them change, I find the peace I was looking for. I also see the potential for loving what is, for loving without wanting anything, for loving without conditions.
My false belief, that I am right about how they "should" be, gets in the way of seeing them how they are, and of seeing my own true nature. By inquiring into this belief, my lesson is that they were never the problem, it was only my thinking all along. When I changed my thinking, my whole world changed, and it got a lot more peaceful. That is the wisdom I now have, and I will never go back to believing the lie.
64.169.6.44 05:38, 13 June 2006 (UTC)12 June 2007 CHOPS
[edit] SP origin
I find it interesting that the Serenity Prayer origin at Alcoholics Anonymous predates the claim here. Any comments? Rfrisbietalk 16:29, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
- I have now thoroughly documented the origin of the prayer. The earlier version of this page was an amazing mess of urban myth and total confusion. Some of it was even comic: the page included the demonstrably false claim that F. C. Oetinger wrote the prayer - and cited as an authority for this a German page that demonstrates that F. C. Oetinger did NOT write the prayer! (The editor who added this obviously was not able to understand the German page.) SerenityPrayer 14:23, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Unlisted Allusion
Olivia Newton-John's album "Stronger than Before" has a very nice extended version of the Serenity Prayer on the last track called "Serenity".
- Have added it on the basis of this report. Macspaunday 16:46, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
