It's been another whole month. Time's got wings I tell ya. When there's nothing memorable to weigh it down it just goes and steals another month from my life here on this little blue ball.
Last Saturday I passed by
I feel like I'm being tugged between what's old and what's new. Something something. I'll try to finish this when I'm sober and in a more controlled state of mind.
As for the medieval people mentioned in my last post, I think that they must be truly enigmatic in their nature. On one hand they receive infinitely less stimuli than a modern day man. On the other, they must be more absorbed in the things that are directly relevant to their day to day existence. Fewer problems, (will the crops grow, will the local lord rape my daughters?). And also fewer joys. He can't get any instant gratification from picking up a new Ipod in the mail now can he?
Which raises the interesting question, does this make his joys and hardships more profound? Starvation is clearly a greater hardship than buying a couple of jeans of the wrong size, not much question about that. So what's interesting about the question is the part about his joys. Is the joy and pride he feels over his children for example more profound than the joy of an equally committed modern day man feels? Because his joys are not diluted by Ipods and whatnot?
Reflection is key, maybe the capacity for joy for one man is limitless but still his time to appreciate it certainly is not. Will one be happier with few profound joys with no other minor things to play as distractions that take up time better spent rejoicing over what's really important?
I think that is why some people like myself bitch about all the utterly irrelevant things, because we are distracted from what ought to be the true joys and sorrows even in a 'modern' world. Realizing this may well be a first step on the path to leading a life with something labeled 'meaning' attached to it. The second and much harder step is to put aside all those irrelevancies and pursue that elusive happiness.
Stay tuned for when I manage to take that step.
Kisses and sweet dreams.
As for the medieval people mentioned in my last post, I think that they must be truly enigmatic in their nature. On one hand they receive infinitely less stimuli than a modern day man. On the other, they must be more absorbed in the things that are directly relevant to their day to day existence. Fewer problems, (will the crops grow, will the local lord rape my daughters?). And also fewer joys. He can't get any instant gratification from picking up a new Ipod in the mail now can he?
Which raises the interesting question, does this make his joys and hardships more profound? Starvation is clearly a greater hardship than buying a couple of jeans of the wrong size, not much question about that. So what's interesting about the question is the part about his joys. Is the joy and pride he feels over his children for example more profound than the joy of an equally committed modern day man feels? Because his joys are not diluted by Ipods and whatnot?
Reflection is key, maybe the capacity for joy for one man is limitless but still his time to appreciate it certainly is not. Will one be happier with few profound joys with no other minor things to play as distractions that take up time better spent rejoicing over what's really important?
I think that is why some people like myself bitch about all the utterly irrelevant things, because we are distracted from what ought to be the true joys and sorrows even in a 'modern' world. Realizing this may well be a first step on the path to leading a life with something labeled 'meaning' attached to it. The second and much harder step is to put aside all those irrelevancies and pursue that elusive happiness.
Stay tuned for when I manage to take that step.
Kisses and sweet dreams.
1 comment:
That's a fascinating idea, about joy and sorrow in old times. It seems to stand to reason, actually - but maybe the small things were just different. Maybe you'd be happy at small things like warm sunshine and tasty meat instead of iPods and computers. I mean, a tasty steak didn't happen to Farmer Joe every day, but if he had cows and pigs, maybe every month or so. That's got to have been a small pleasure, right?
Sounds less shallow, but I don't think it really is.
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