Because neither she nor Port had ever lived a life of any kind of regularity, they had both made the fatal error of coming hazily to regard time as non-existent. One year was like another year. Eventually everything would happen.
Paul BowlesRead
The act of living had been enjoyable; at some point when I was not paying attention, it had turned into a different sort of experience, to whose grimness I had grown so accustomed that I now took it for granted.
Interpretation
Life can shift from enjoyment to a grim experience without us noticing.
This quote reflects on the subtle transformation that can occur in our daily lives, where joy can fade into a mundane or grim reality without us being fully aware of the change. It speaks to the importance of mindfulness and awareness in our experiences, urging us to appreciate the enjoyable aspects before they become overshadowed by discomfort or routine.
In practice
In a motivational speech about the importance of mindfulness.
Because neither she nor Port had ever lived a life of any kind of regularity, they had both made the fatal error of coming hazily to regard time as non-existent. One year was like another year. Eventually everything would happen.
Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another. Indeed, he would have found it difficult to tell, among the many places he had lived, precisely where it was he had felt most at home.
I've always wanted to get as far as possible from the place where I was born. Far both geographically and spiritually. To leave it behind ... I feel that life is very short and the world is there to see and one should know as much about it as possible. One belongs to the whole world, not just one part of it.
Each time I go to a place I have not seen before I hope it will be as different as possible from the places I already know. I assume it is natural for a traveler to seek diversity, and that it is the human element that makes him most aware of difference. If people and their manner of living were alike everywhere, there would not be much point in moving from one place to another.
[A]nother important difference between tourist and traveler is that the former accepts his own civilization without question; not so the traveler, who compares it with the others, and rejects those elements he finds not to his liking.
Though the universe is delightfully complex, life, at its heart, is not particularly complicated. Live true to who you are and though it won't always be easy, you'll live well.
Cast between the extremes of happiness and misfortune, uncertainty is a cruel torment.
Let choice whisper in your ear and love murmur in your heart. Be ready. Here comes life.
Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.
Undertow" "I set out one night When the tide was low There were signs in the sky But I did not know I'd be caught in the grip Of the undertow Ditched on a beach Where the sea hates to go With a child in my arms And a chill in my soul And my heart the shape Of a begging bowl
I'm just a survivor from the train wreck of the modern world.
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