Thursday, May 8, 2008

5 comments:

Erin said...

Hmm...this all feels very familiar...like I've read it before? I'm still befuddled as to whether I should feel guilty for being happy most of the time or happy that I'm mostly happy. Either way, good stuff Current Stegner Fellow.
Sadly happy,
Ace

P.S. Original comment deleted so I could think about my comment a little more. If I am deeply out of touch with reality (it's quite possible), is that such a bad thing to be when reality is so dreary? But what is dreary? And what is reality? And what is a "Philly"?

Sally said...

"My parents got divorced when I was years old.
And I saw my father about three times a year after that.
And when he found out that he had cancer...
he decided to bring me here...
and he gives me this big pink sea shell...
and he says to me...
"Son, the answers are all inside of this. "
And I'm all, like, "What?"
But then I realized that the shell was empty.
There's no point to any of this.
It's all just a...
A random lottery of meaningless tragedy...
and a series of near escapes.
So I take pleasure in the details, you know.
A Quarter-Pounder with cheese.
Those are good.
The sky about... ten minutes before it starts to rain.
The moment where your laughter becomes a cackle.
And I sit back, and I... I smoke my Camel straights.
And I ride my own melt." - Troy (Ethan Hawke), Reality Bites

Amen on the post. Made me think of one of my favorite lines in a movie.

Sally said...

You know what...I vote to do away with the word "happiness." It's vague, it's too Disney, it's rarely an accurate descriptor. The word makes me think of cell phone commercials, Old Navy ads, and those people smiling such ridiculous grins in hemorrhoid and herpes medication commercials. From this day on, I banish the word happy/happiness from my vocabulary . As Karl Pilkington says, there are already too many words in the dictionary.

Unknown said...

Once I may have believed this. But now I'm not so sure. You see, I came to a realization a few days ago. And since that moment, I've been in a constant state of peace and serenity, happiness if you will.
The realization was this, happiness is directly related to your desires. As a child for instance, you would want a cookie, for the time you ate it you would be happy and content... until you wanted something else.
Now recognizing this, I've come to the conclusion that there are different ways to achieve happiness. One of which is to achieve your desires, this is the haphazard way that seems the way of most people's "pursuit" of happiness.
Another is to take control of your desires, and want/desire only what you know you can achieve.
And finally the last way I've thought of, though there may be many more I as of now know not, Is to let go of your desires. This is what I did unknowingly to achieve this state. You see, I wanted something to the exclusion of all else, but it was an impossible dream. Upon realizing this, my mind snapped/clicked and forced my heart and desires into check. Releasing them.

Tim Cooijmans said...

Why did this post disappear? Is the text available anywhere else?