people are much more interesting than animals, but they have far too many civil rights and self-opinions to be safe play things. also, i love sherwood anderson (ohio)!!
I know YOU'RE BEING IRONIC... i just read a story by sherwood anderson about the guy who avoided any potentially painful experience so much that he'd even never allow himself to have a love affair. he would deal with his love on his own. he had a gift of enjoying trivial things, like smell of ground coffee in the street or just loafing around all afternoon doing nothing. when i read this i thought that maybe the best times of my life were when i let the part of my nature that is like that guy take over.... :-)
No, I'm not being ironic. I do think it's a pity when people have dreams and settle for less because you can have regrets from not doing, just as you can have regrets from doing. On the other hand, I think you have to emerge from your comfort zone cautiously and gradually because taking huge risks can end badly. The aim is to get to the point where the pain of your kidney stone (I have just had one) and the smell of coffee are equally interesting to your detached mind. As for my degree of enlightenment, I can tell you that I still prefer the coffee :))
It may sound cold but the trained, detached mind is what helps you to survive your experiences and therefore, paradoxically, enables you to have more and richer experiences while you are still alive. Cold old death will have the last word anyway and the saddest way to die is regretting all the things you didn't do. How do you detach your mind? Well, you don't stop warmly, even hotly experiencing but at the same time you watch. You don't say "coffee is good" and "kidney stones are bad". You just study them both as experiences. Sooner or later pain of some kind will be unavoidable. (In my case, it was probably the coffee that caused the kidney stone!) Even if you play safe and never do anything passionate or stupid, pain will find you out. It's how you handle the pain that matters. Weak people say yes to everything. Growing people learn to say no to things that burden them. Strong people can say no and yes again, yes to new experiences. Start by taking a small risk. All glib and easy words, I know :)))
well, i can imagine much sadder ways to die, like, for example, losing the sense and memory of all beauty. i think i know what you mean... at the same time, i don't believe in free emotions that stay in your control. it's eather this or that. the simple rule: that which is easily impressed is much affected. if you manage to stay unaffected enough to rule over your emotions, well, that's at the cost of your emotions...
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How do you detach your mind? Well, you don't stop warmly, even hotly experiencing but at the same time you watch. You don't say "coffee is good" and "kidney stones are bad". You just study them both as experiences. Sooner or later pain of some kind will be unavoidable. (In my case, it was probably the coffee that caused the kidney stone!) Even if you play safe and never do anything passionate or stupid, pain will find you out. It's how you handle the pain that matters.
Weak people say yes to everything. Growing people learn to say no to things that burden them. Strong people can say no and yes again, yes to new experiences. Start by taking a small risk.
All glib and easy words, I know :)))
All very easy and glib words, I know :)))
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