12 May, 2008: "Do What You Love, F&^% The Rest"
"The faculties, intensely active but at the same time restricted, are exercised only upon themselves, with neither aim nor goal. The more a society advances towards civilization, the more widespread becomes this condition--the condition which we may call the vagueness of the passions."
-Chateaubriand, Genie du Christianisme
Old, dead, French guys have a way with words. I wish I had read more of them and less of What Color is Your Parachute. Even though they convey the same message, Hugo's Toilers of the Sea makes my guts burn with hunger for life, while Seven Habits just reminds me why God invented skimming.
After reading the above quote from Chateaubriand, it hit me: We spend most of our lives waiting--for enough time to take the next vacation, for the "right" partner, for the lead that will land us in our dream career, for enough money to buy a new home or pay for the kid's education, for our IRA to grow to the point that we can retire and focus on golf. In my case, I've been waiting for the correct moment to start following through on the "hare-brained schemes" that haunt me like a recurring case of athlete's foot.
"Someday I'll write a book. Someday I'll start giving back to good causes. Someday I'll try being homeless. Someday I'll hop on my bike and ride the course of the Tour de France."
The only difference between "vague passions" and "actualized passions" is that one will happen "someday" and the other happens "now." For me, finally, now is now. I am happy--well, not exactly "happy," but something like that--and I can only guess that Maslow would be proud.
I hope that most people's deep-seated dreams do actually involve four-bedroom houses and SUVs; if so, then American society hasn't gone as far off the rails as Henry Miller and I think it has. But I have a suspicion that "Money, money, always money. And then more money, or less money" doesn't answer the question of "what makes money money?"
Enough rambling for one day. Time to ride!
