Begin it with Goethe

[dalby2020]

One of the questions I came up with reading the poem over and over is - "Begin it? Who uses that?" .
So I did a search. After skipping the million hits leading to the Fenn poem, I found writing attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

"Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it".

Okay, somewhat interesting. Uses the same begin it and mentions bold. But not much to go on. 
I jotted it down.
Another quick search brought up "My peace is gone, my heart is heavy".
Okay, I added peace and heavy to my notes and moved on.

Later, I'm researching home of Brown and thinking in terms of the color Brown and where it comes from (i.e. It's home). After a side track down sacred colors and medicine wheels, I came back to minerals, iron oxides, ochre, and so on. 
This turned up Goethite, which is used for Brown pigment.
Guess who that is named after?  Yes - polymath and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
And where is Goethite found?  The region around Leadville, CO.
Found at the bottom of lakes and slow flowing creeks.
To add to this, Goethe also authored ," the theory of colour" , a topic an art gallery owner might be familiar with.

Is any of this relevant? 
Did Fenn know of, find inspiration from, or reference Goethe's works?
Who knows.
But finding such connections is what fuels the thrill of the chase.

[voxpops]

Hi dalby2020 , I wanted to reply, somewhat tangentially, to your post here, but also with reference to your thoughts as expressed in the REAL treasure thread. First a disclaimer: as well as posting rarely these days, I have a pitifully poor knowledge of Goethe, so I'm not going to be much help to anybody! However, I thought your ideas were fresh and interesting and merited some sort of response.

I really like the line, "Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it," as I think that encapsulates the Chase very well, whether or not FF was conscious of it at the time he penned the poem. Also, as a highly creative and accomplished polymath, there are undoubtedly reflections of the kind of life Goethe led in FF's own attitudes and achievements. Although I don't think it will help looking for direct parallels, I see no harm in taking inspiration from this kind of source.

And that leads me to your interpretive precis of the poem. As you probably know, FF has cautioned against "messing" with his poem. I believe that you need the poem as written to be able to make any kind of progress. That said, I think many people (and I'm one of them) are of the opinion that we don't know the full story behind this treasure hunt, and that there is more to be revealed eventually - something "significant" to use Forrest's own word. Thinking deeply about the poem and its meaning may lead to insights that are helpful. FF took fifteen years to perfect the poem. He has stated that he had "help," but what form that help took is never fully revealed, other than taking his initial cue from Ralph Lauren. He has also indicated (paraphrasing) that six or eight events had to occur for the Chase to work. To my mind, we are dealing with a truly mysterious story - and I think FF has mentioned the "mystery" in the poem. This is not just a salesman's hyperbole, in my opinion, but could well be referencing something of genuine importance. We need to be open to the mystery.

So how do you reconcile the "mystery," "significance," and "help" with FF's claim that the poem is "straight forward?" I believe it is through deep thought. The poem may be describing a simple route (to an actual treasure chest), but in order to divine what it is we have to dig deep - very deep. After all, which of the thousand-and-one candidates for WWWH is the correct one? The answer will only come from the deepest thought, listening acutely, and by accepting help - in the same way that FF had help when writing the poem. Otherwise, how will you know when and how to adjust? And there lies the real problem in my view: most of us are unwilling to adjust. Goethe was right that we have to begin... and Fenn was right that we have to adjust.