..... The Missus and I spent most of the afternoon exploring new roads in an odd county.... t'was truly strange, really, I guess........ but it WAS enjoyable...... I took lots of photographs as I eased Blanche around the curves and over the hills........... see, we're sandwiched between the Appalachians and the Cumberland Plateau, so it is impossible to get lost.......... thirty miles wide, our little stretch pretty much keeps us "channeled"....... you know where north and south are.... and you easily know which way east and west are......... we're in our Own Little Fishbowl, so to speak.......
...... I stopped today to take a photograph of a beautiful bay colt as it ate grass along a fence line....... and just as I snapped the shutter, it moved, turned it's head, and stared straight at me.......... it struck me that there was a possibility that it didn't really WANT its photo taken at that moment of pastoral solitude.......... was I, for being a voyeur, transgressing somehow?.......... in any case, it felt more than slightly awkward.......
..... and they say that when folks own goldfish, the goldfish "Forget Themselves" every three seconds........ how amazing.......
..... and that a goldfish will never tire of swimming around his 7 1/2 inch globe enclosure because he simply forgets with every revolution that he has "been there before"...... and as such, he is perpetually content...... good god, folks..... "perpetually content"?......... what an idea?......... does one envy the goldfish, or pity it?.......... not to say that there is anything necessarily bad about living in a fishbowl..... OR, come to think of it, having a memory capacity of three seconds....... hell, both have their positives and negatives, but still.........
.... to be perpetually content is to laze, no?......... aren't we supposed to be slightly pissed off most of the time?.... disillusioned, let-down, angry?........ IS there such a thing as "perpetual contentment"?....... and if there is, is that Nirvana, or is it a sign of a complete lack of The Commitment to SEEK?.......
.... so, question........ do we ever really arrive?........ IS there a place to arrive to?..... a destination?.. or is it best to always be hungry, lean, and to continue to strive until, well, there is nothing left to work for?........
back away from the goldfish...
You ask some hard questions, Eric. Hard, because I think we can only guess at the answers.
Personally, I don't like the idea of being pissed most of the time. As in, pissed being the biggest motivator for living, moving forward, exploring.
I think a good life is living, not just existing like the gold fish. Living... absorbing, learning, appreciating, sharing, creating, loving. And, I think there is more to do than can be done so, no, we never arrive. A good life would be wearing ourselves out in the complete living of our life. And, maybe, coming back to pick up where we left off.
How do we know such things about goldfish? Is there some lab somewhere that tests the minds of goldfish? How do goldfish commuicate happiness? For me, I don't want to miss any part of life. Good or bad, dull or exciting, those are what makes our life. To forget your life every three minutes seems like a waste. This is reminding me of a philosophy class I had one time - maybe I would rather forget some things.
Bullshitted by lou on November 14, 2009 08:11 AMThe old boys who wrote our Declaration of Independence had the right idea... we are endowed with our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Happiness, like that big-titted, long-legged cheerleader in senior year of High School, is all about the pursuit. Once you get there, as Gertrude Stein famously said about Oakland, CA, there isn't any "there" there... it's all about the journey, brother, not the elusive destination.
And that's encoded in our DNA. It's what makes us strive for greatness... and, occasionally, succeed...
Bullshitted by Elisson on November 14, 2009 02:37 PM"Gee look at that super castle"
....... 3 seconds .........
"My heavens what a fancy underwater castle"
....... 3 seconds .........
"Look at that. What a beautiful castle".
....... 3 seconds .........
"I think I can live in that, whoa"
***************
I am now retiring to the asylum for the truly insane
I hate being angry. I think it sucks. If my life is to be perpetually angry, I want off.
To be content to me is not to laze. I am content most of the time, when I'm doing as I please, persuing what I want to persue. I have so many interests. I hope to continue to persue them and when I'm done with those, find some more. I hope when I die, my obituary is so long due to my varied interests and accomplishments, my kids can't write all and must simply put, "She died. We are sad. We loved her."
Bullshitted by Bou on November 15, 2009 04:50 PM