Human relationships...
I intended to write this earlier but I have quite simply never had the time or the patience. Some people go their entire lives either with a song in their heart or a story to translate into words, it's just that most folks either bottle it up or wind up sharing it secretly with an intimate friend or a lover. I get the feeling sometimes that folks are a lot alike only they don't care to realise it most of the time.
People feel safer when they have a pocket of wisdom which they can treasure to themselves. People seem to have the idea that their own introspections and independent experiences bear considerable weight when compared to others and little notice that other people's lives are not altogether different lives, just variations on a theme. Maybe we're just in denial as a species.
I like this quote. I had quite forgotten about it up until now as a matter of fact:
"'There's no reason to be troubled because we're absurd, is there? You know it really is true that we're absurd, that we're shallow, have bad habits, that we're bored, that we don't know how to look at things, that we can't understand, we're all like that, all of us, you, and I, and they! And you are not offended at my telling you to your own faces that you're absurd? Are you? And if that's so, aren't you good material? Do you know, to my thinking it's a good thing sometimes to be absurd; it's better in fact, it makes it easier to forgive one another, it's easier to be humble. One can't understand everything at once, we can't begin with perfection all at once! In order to reach perfection one must begin by being ignorant of a great deal. And if we understand things too quickly, perhaps we shan't understand them thoroughly. I say that to you who have been able to understand so much already and.. have failed to understand so much... I speak to save us all, that our class may not vanish in vain; in darkness, without realising anything, abusing everything, and losing everything. Why disappear and make way for others when we might remain in advance and be the leaders? If we are advanced we shall be the leaders. Let us be servants in order to be leaders.'"
F. Dostoesvky, The Idiot, p517-18
This novelist who a few entries ago I reprimanded by being overly-negative has just been reconciled with my own ideas in this wonderful passage. I forget that people are prone to develop their ideas over a lifetime and this novel, like The Brothers Karamazov, really sums up better Dostoesvky's humanistic leanings than his earlier works. Anyway, that's besides where I was heading with that. What I meant was to highlight how people do make an exceptional fuss of themselves through the course of their lives. The ideal position to take would be to be most self-aware and sensitive to the way an inflated sense of purpose might hurt others.
The idea really is to suggest that though we are not capable of omnipotence, at least we are capable of damage control, of admitting mistakes, and even- if we're especially fortunate- thinking a course of action through before we plunge forth along that mysterious path. The idea is that we make decisions based on the understanding that others have helped in getting so far and that your actions will always matter.
People feel safer when they have a pocket of wisdom which they can treasure to themselves. People seem to have the idea that their own introspections and independent experiences bear considerable weight when compared to others and little notice that other people's lives are not altogether different lives, just variations on a theme. Maybe we're just in denial as a species.
I like this quote. I had quite forgotten about it up until now as a matter of fact:
"'There's no reason to be troubled because we're absurd, is there? You know it really is true that we're absurd, that we're shallow, have bad habits, that we're bored, that we don't know how to look at things, that we can't understand, we're all like that, all of us, you, and I, and they! And you are not offended at my telling you to your own faces that you're absurd? Are you? And if that's so, aren't you good material? Do you know, to my thinking it's a good thing sometimes to be absurd; it's better in fact, it makes it easier to forgive one another, it's easier to be humble. One can't understand everything at once, we can't begin with perfection all at once! In order to reach perfection one must begin by being ignorant of a great deal. And if we understand things too quickly, perhaps we shan't understand them thoroughly. I say that to you who have been able to understand so much already and.. have failed to understand so much... I speak to save us all, that our class may not vanish in vain; in darkness, without realising anything, abusing everything, and losing everything. Why disappear and make way for others when we might remain in advance and be the leaders? If we are advanced we shall be the leaders. Let us be servants in order to be leaders.'"F. Dostoesvky, The Idiot, p517-18
This novelist who a few entries ago I reprimanded by being overly-negative has just been reconciled with my own ideas in this wonderful passage. I forget that people are prone to develop their ideas over a lifetime and this novel, like The Brothers Karamazov, really sums up better Dostoesvky's humanistic leanings than his earlier works. Anyway, that's besides where I was heading with that. What I meant was to highlight how people do make an exceptional fuss of themselves through the course of their lives. The ideal position to take would be to be most self-aware and sensitive to the way an inflated sense of purpose might hurt others.
The idea really is to suggest that though we are not capable of omnipotence, at least we are capable of damage control, of admitting mistakes, and even- if we're especially fortunate- thinking a course of action through before we plunge forth along that mysterious path. The idea is that we make decisions based on the understanding that others have helped in getting so far and that your actions will always matter.
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