Dare to Dwell

"Chronic remorse... is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrong-doing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.... Art also has its morality, and many of the rules of this morality are the same as, or at least analogous to, the rules of ordinary ethics. Remorse, for example, is as undesirable in relation to our bad art as it is in relation to our bad behaviour. The badness should be hunted out, acknowledged and, if possible, avoided in the future. To pore over the literary shortcomings of twenty years ago, to attempt to patch a faulty work into the perfection it missed at its first execution, to spend one's middle age in trying to mend the artistic sins committed and bequeathed by that different person who was oneself in youth-- all this is surely vain and futile. And that is why this new Brave New World is the same as the old one. Its defects as a work of art are considerable; but in order to correct them I should have to rewrite the book-- and in the process of rewriting, as an older, other person, I should probably get rid not only of some of the faults of the story, but also of such merits as it originally possessed. And so, resisting the temptation to wallow in artistic remorse, I prefer to leave both well and ill alone and to think about something else." ~Huxley

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The World is Love

Through the vicissitudes of life, there's never a lower point than when you're heartbroken, and never a higher pinnacle than when you're in love. But as we flounder in the ocean of emotions, which experience do we value most?

Is it the independence of this earthling that has struggled through so much, or the bonding of two soulmates that make us realize who we truly are?

Let's begin inside ourselves. Before we even laid our hands on another person whom we were infatuated by, before we even knew of such possibilities of falling in love and marriage, what was it like to be alone all that time? Do we really understand our academic success? Do we know where we have positioned ourselves? Or are we mostly intertwined in such bright, falling confetti we're not even sure what we're celebrating? Do we appreciate our accomplishments nearly as much as we should?

You're now old enough to understand basic morality. Peeking inside the family, let's say your relatives come over for a visit during break, do you notice your habits changing? Sleeping earlier perhaps? Being more polite, showing respect to your elders, in which you wouldn't show otherwise to your parents or siblings? Your relatives leave, do you remain this way? This refined and kind?

You've finally gotten a taste of your first relationship. It's mesmerizing. Perhaps it's full of mystery and questions, but when you're in the moment, none of that matters. You've been swept off your feet; it's too late to go back. If it doesn't work out, it couldn't feel much worse. If it does, jubilation and happiness.



Regardless of the outcome, love doesn't come from another being. You realize the feelings you feel, and the emotions you touch someone else with are the essence of you. Love begins when you respect yourself. It commences when you value who you are, realize the things you're capable of, visualize the mountains you can climb.

Alone.
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