Master of human destinities am I.
Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait,
Cities and fields i walk; I penetrate
Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by
Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late
I knock unbidden, once at every gate!
If sleeping, wake- if feasting, rise before
I turn away. It is the hour of fate,
And they who follow me reach every state
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe
Save death; bot those who doubt or hesitate,
COndemned to failure, penury and woe,
Seek me in vain and uselessly implore-
I answer not. and I return no more.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
The things that matter
Public libraries are becoming an obsession of mine. I see it as a refuge, a workplace and my office, a gathering of the community. Here in this little place that I am surrounded by years of wisdom and wit, decades of people struggling to find some sort of existence in the power of words, and in the thick of it, us newborn strugglers, a whole new generation of searchers who seek to be taught, shown and have our minds expanded. . .obviously I spend too much time there.
Yesterday, I picked up some books that are in line with my ever harebrained ideas of what to do with my life. This question in no way has any bearing on what sort of means of income I might find this summer becuase really. . .the one thing I've found out so far is that most of the time your dream job (which consists mostly of idealized versions of oneself doing not much work that produces self-aggrandizing results) does not coincide with what pays rent. More's the pity.
Among my acquisitions for the week that I borrowed from the thinking place, as I like to call it, I got one book about the stages of life as seen through 7 different literary works. Jane Eyre, which I must read again soon to not look the fool,speaks of Jane as one who learns to move on from the past and to know that what she believes, whether in good or bad, is what grounds her.
I want to say her words. . .
"I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad- as I am now. Laws and principles are not for th times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour . . . They have a worth - so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane- quite insane: with my veins running with fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by; there I plant my foot."
-Jane Eyre
What does she mean by this??
Is this thing that really matters, a belief that one sets oneself up on, looking neither to the right nor left, but holding onto this as the bouy that saves in the storm?
You go Jane.
Yesterday, I picked up some books that are in line with my ever harebrained ideas of what to do with my life. This question in no way has any bearing on what sort of means of income I might find this summer becuase really. . .the one thing I've found out so far is that most of the time your dream job (which consists mostly of idealized versions of oneself doing not much work that produces self-aggrandizing results) does not coincide with what pays rent. More's the pity.
Among my acquisitions for the week that I borrowed from the thinking place, as I like to call it, I got one book about the stages of life as seen through 7 different literary works. Jane Eyre, which I must read again soon to not look the fool,speaks of Jane as one who learns to move on from the past and to know that what she believes, whether in good or bad, is what grounds her.
I want to say her words. . .
"I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad- as I am now. Laws and principles are not for th times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour . . . They have a worth - so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane- quite insane: with my veins running with fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by; there I plant my foot."
-Jane Eyre
What does she mean by this??
Is this thing that really matters, a belief that one sets oneself up on, looking neither to the right nor left, but holding onto this as the bouy that saves in the storm?
You go Jane.
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