Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Meditation and some quotes.

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and the unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. —Bertrand Russell

There's so much I want to know...to learn... I want intellect, wit, logic. I hate sitting still. I want to resemble Oshima, Miss Saeki, Kafka Tamura; no, the three motivate me to continue seeking knowledge because I don't want to let time and my life to slip away like sand through my fingers. I yearn for depth and substance, not to amble down the road a hollow shell. So many things fascinate me, I just want to know everything. Psychology, mythology, politics, economics, world history, American history, Japanese history, Korean history, Japanese and Korean pop culture, American pop culture, science, biographies, music, art history, I want the time to sit and read and read and read books on these subjects, to absorb all this...knowledge. I feel so, so so hollow it disgusts me. I yearn to articulate, to write at least well, if not brilliantly, concisely. 

"'If talent's a kind of natural energy, doesn't it have to find an outlet?'
'I don't know," he replies. 'Nobody can predict where talent's headed. Sometimes it simply vanishes. Other times it sinks down under the earth like an underground stream and flows off who knows where.'"

"'But even if that happens, you've got to have a place you can retrace your steps to.'
'A place you can retrace your steps to?'
'A place that's worth coming back to.'" 

"In a sense, I guess. I wasn't alone, but I was terribly lonely. Because I knew that I would never be happier than I was then." 

Everything you're thinking is written all over your face. It's like one side of a split-open dried mackerel--everything inside your head's laid out for all to see. 

"'The branch sways in the wind, and each time this happens the bird's field of vision shifts. You know what I mean?'
..'When that happens, how do you think the bird adjusts?'
'It bobs its head up and down, making up for the sway of the branch...Don't you think that kind of life would be tiring? Always shifting your head every time the branch you're on sways?'" 

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