After an exhausting week and morning, I fell asleep for almost 6 hours today, missed dinner, and never got around to all the work I meant to do. Decided to roll with it and spent some time reading Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins. Since December I've been alternating my reading material between Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut, and now Tom Robbins. The past two months, they've been contributing to my life as 1) Escape from the reality of school (both college and teaching-wise) and 2) Expansion of philosophical ideas during mealtimes. It simply amazes me that authors can produce such massive amounts of insight...the wisdom in only a few pages of any of those authors is enough to shatter my reality, never mind the amounts totaled from all of their books combined.
Take this quote from my first Tom Robbins - Still Life With Woodpecker:
- Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature
- If you're honest, you sooner or later have to confront your values. Then you're forced to separate what is right from what is merely legal. This puts you metaphysically on the run. America is full of metaphysical outlaws.
I don't even know how to explain just how much I love these books...they're full of ideas like that, along with incredibly entertaining and wild adventures.
If you've never read any of these authors, Get Up. Now. Find your nearest library, and check out On the Road, Player Piano, and/or Still Life With Woodpecker.
In other news, I learned some eye-opening information this morning. A professional I work with has a spouse who's been diagnosed with cancer. This really reminded me how oblivious we can be to the lives of others...and brought up a perplexing question: Is there a degree to which rude behavior towards others is acceptable, providing that the perpetrator is dealing with serious problems? My first reaction is to say of COURSE not - we should all attempt to be kind, open, generous individuals no matter the circumstances we're placed in. But I can't help but feel guilt for secretly despising my co-worker when he's been less than helpful, now that I know the stress he's no doubt been experiencing. And I know there have been many times where I have handled situations very poorly because of unrelated issues I was experiencing in other aspects of life. I suppose the only thing anyone can do is give others the benefit of the doubt.
What complex creatures with complex lives wander our planet!!
I'm going to leave you (and myself) with this quote I've been pondering (another Robbins quote):
"When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on- series polygamy- until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimension to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter."
New instructions: live with life, reflect on life, laugh at life. Repeat daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment