The World As I See It : Albert Einstein

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

"I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.

"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."


"My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon degenerates; force attracts men of low morality... The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.
"This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence -- as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature."

- Albert Einstein
The essay was originally published in "Forum and Century."

There is something remarkable to be emphasized about that last paragraph. If such a philosophy was ingrained into everyone's daily life (though that would constitute less individuality) would result in a society that appreciates the world's offerings as opposed to anticipating what might come to be. I am all for being a dreamer - embarking on such a path results in discovering a cornucopia of ideas; however, you need to acknowledge that fact that your dreams are only real and thriving within your mind and the physical, tangible world is real and thriving right in front of you.

Breathing.



Letting you pass it by.





So, what is more important: seeing the beautiful within your thoughts or seeing the beautiful right before your eyes? It all boils down to a matter of philosophy... a matter of perception. Me? Well, I guess I might be a cheater because I see it on both ends.

I believe in Reason. And I guess that is where I derive all of these ideas within my life.



This empty chair in front of me at Cafe Med has Einstein written all over it. We could share a pastry and sip some espresso (because I am not a fan of their drip coffee).

I am letting the world pass me by in these few seconds because Einstein just walked in, and we are in dire need of a re-cap. Time to rekindle our flame - maybe not in this reality.

-Mon

Existentialism Up North

This hits close to home:
"We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and — in spite of True Romance magazines — we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely — at least, not all the time — but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don’t see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.
—Hunter S. Thompson"

My midterms end on Wednesday, finally. And, after my brain bursts into a multitude of glass-like shards, I am going to get started on my side project.


I spoke to my philosophy professor on Wednesday and he really got me thinking...
"why do you write in journals and blogs when you have such a different perspective on life? Why not sing, or dance, or play the guitar?"
I stood there, stumped, because I did not have an answer.
"Writing is always there, and since I do it so much, it's simply easier."A shitty answer, I thought, but an honest one at that.

I think I need some musical intervention.




Unpredictability at its finest. Being surrounded by happy individuals rubs off on me; however, even without them, I would be elated.

I might be an optimist, or maybe my caffeine addiction and marijuana consumption is getting to me.

-Mon

Radiohead

My nights are bordering insanity and I'm not even using questionable drugs.




What the fuck?

A real entry soon - I promise; for now, just this. Too many thoughts that shouldn't be released on the net.
Not on the net.
Not just yet.

-Mon

?

Where am I going?


Keep on keepin' on.


-Mon