Life moves too slow and too fast
This playground of learning is too big to see it all, too small to see enough
Not enough people have the glint in their eyes, the knowing comprehension of the cosmic joke and our roles as its stand up comedians
I yearn for adventure, meaning, spontaneity, growth
I need stability, comprehension, love, a listener
Have you ever connected with someone immediately? A twinkle in the eye, a slight smirk, and a whirlwind of Feeling?
I am well on my way to fulfilling the entire pyramid of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and achieving "happiness".... But I miss Feeling. Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to hold onto real human brains, and can't help but be reminded by this quote from one of my favourite works of fiction.“Perhaps that is our doom, our human curse, to never really know one another. We erect edifices in our minds about the flimsy framework of word and deed, mere totems of the true person, who, like the gods to whom the temples were built, remains hidden. We understand our own construct; we know our own theory; we love our own fabrication. Still . . . does the artifice of our affection make our love any less real?”
We cannot know one another beyond the artifices we construct and project, however, the bond itself is still realGrimacing, I plunged a hand into the fouled water to clear the clog, morbid curiosity drawing my youthful eyes to the gray globs of gore floating upon the surface. It was not horror that seized my imagination so much as wonder: sixty years of dreams and desires, hunger and hope, love and longing, blasted away in a single explosive instant, mind and brain. The mind of Erasmus Gray was gone; the remnants of its vessel floated, as light and insubstantial as popcorn, in the water. Which fluffy bit held your ambition, Erasmus Gray? Which speck your pride? Ah, how absurd the primping and preening of our race! Is it not the ultimate arrogance to believe we are more than is contained in our biology? What counterarguments may be put forth, what valid objections raised, to the claim of Ecclesiastes, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity"?
Even if the person we imagine them to be is not
I'm reminded again of another of my favourite stories, Le Petit Prince
I think it's time to stop making assumptions about the intentions of other people. We all are equally lonely on this microcosm of a sphere inside our skulls. What's important is what we deem important. Nurture ties which are important to you. There's no wrong way to live life but with regrets. If you let what you think others will think of you control you, you are living according to your own demons.I am looking for friends. What does that mean -- tame?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."
"To establish ties?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....
Tame. Your. Demons.
Live your life as you actually want to. Imagine being the most powerful being in the universe. How would you choose to spend your time?
A spoiler for you, dear reader. You are very, very powerful. Work intentionally to whatever that vision is, and it will come. And on the way, meet as many different versions of yourself as you can, before it's too late.
“You're beautiful, but you're empty...One couldn't die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she's the one I've watered. Since she's the one I put under glass, since she's the one I sheltered behind the screen. Since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three butterflies). Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she's my rose.”
“People where you live," the little prince said, "grow five thousand roses in one garden... yet they don't find what they're looking for...
They don't find it," I answered.
And yet what they're looking for could be found in a single rose, or a little water..."
Of course," I answered.
And the little prince added, "But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.”
“People have forgotten this truth," the fox said. "But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.”
