When you go out into the world you know you're going to see something clever, funny and inventive. What you don't expect, however, is to see a remarkably intelligent treatment of the most complicated and confusing philosophical issues of them all: the self.
Are you still the person you were yesterday, last year or twenty years ago? What about fifteen minutes ago? How do you plan for a future you you don't yet know? Which one is the real you? Does the self remain constant over time and place, or is it something fragmented or fluid? Can you claim yourself as property? A number of anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and neurologists have the answers to this question. But how do you go about answering it? Or, have you even bothered?
Maybe you're not into reincarnated Lamas. Maybe you spend more time thinking about what you've got to do today, or how you're going to spend your weekend. Maybe you just spend your time in pompous pontification, before arriving to the point. Maybe then things make sense. Thereon is a beautiful enlightening thought. But I have to be honest up to this point here I was ready to throw the whole post away or use it as a sleep aid.
2 comments:
Love this! So timely, and timeless. I remember my mother telling me, “You’re about as happy as you make up your mind to be”. (Little did I know she was not the original author of that phrase.) But it is true. Currently reading, “The School of Life”, which talks about emotional education. It’s so important, and yet rarely taught. I believe it can and should be taught. Most of our emotional education comes from our parents and other close relatives. We’re the lucky ones who had parents who had the skill and thought to pass it along. You, my friend are the happiest educator I know. Thank you for spreading the happy vibes!
What a wonderful post. So timely, and timeless. I have always thought we are about as happy as we make up our minds to be. (I think I stole that from someone...) I am currently reading, “The School of Life”, by Alan de Botton. Great book. Lots of stuff on emotional intelligence.You have that, and more. Thank you for spreading the joy!.
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