"The Society* is a real passion to me--after thee, I know no greater joy. I shall read them a paper on controlling our passions, in which I shall point out that we can't, and that the greater they are the less we ought to though the more easily we can.--This sounds paradoxical but isn't."
What are your thoughts? Has this rang true for you--you can more easily control your greater passions?
If this is too much thinking for you or for a Sunday, I present this picture for your amusement. I snapped it today on my walk. It's an antique shop's front window display on College Avenue in Oakland:
So delightful and gay!
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*The Society was (is?) a secret and elite intellectual group of Cambridge students. Think Dead Poets Society +++ and beyond.
ps. Tonight: Bad Design of the Week!
And, um, let me see... Do I have a song of the day for you today?
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(thinking)
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(still thinking)
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Yes. Yes, I do. It's an oldie. (What can I say? I'm old.)
I felt sad when I heard this song on my iPod yesterday morning. I remembered the first time I heard Cyndi's version of What's Going On. I was sitting in the back seat of the car with my sister. My mother was driving, and it was my brother's turn to sit up in front. We were in Modesto, heading to some sort of store. I remember thinking, as I listened to the song, that the current wars and conflicts happening at that time--1987, if I remember correctly--would be the last ever, and there would be no more need for more versions of this moving song. War made no sense to me back then (most of them still don't), and I thought that something so illogical and evil surely couldn't come around again. Oh, the folly of youth!
Cyndi Lauper, What's Going On
mother, mother
there's too many of you crying
brother, brother, brother
there's far too many of you dying
you know you've got to find a way
to bring some lovin' here today
father, father
there's no need to escalate
you see, war is not the answer
for only love can conquer hate
you know we've got to find a way
to bring back lovin' here today
aw, picket lines and picket signs
don't punish me with brutality
talk to me so you can see
what's going on
tell me what's going on
mother, mother
ev'ry body thinks we're wrong
but who are they to judge us
cause our hair is long
you know we've got to find a way
to bring some understanding here today
good god
2 comments:
As long as you're reading Russell, you might read The Conquest of Happiness, if you haven't already. It's very BR, but it's also just a nice (short) tome on some ideas around happiness.
I'm not sure what he had in mind regarding the greater they are they less we ought to stuff...I'd love to hear your take on it.
Jeff: I'll put that book on my list!
My take on his "the greater the passion, the less we ought to try to control them," based on my understanding that he believed the law of physics applied to the "law" of man, too (for example, things are/act in accordance to their essence/nature) then I took it to be a fancier way of saying "follow your bliss" or "follow your heart."
This is something I believe in, too. That is, as long as it doesn't involve obvious or deliberate harm to oneself or others.
I'm still thinking on the "the more easily we can" part.
Love to hear your thoughts.
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