Finding is losing something else. I think about, perhaps even mourn, what I lost to find this
Interpretation
Finding something often requires sacrificing or losing something else, leading to mixed feelings about the loss.
This quote by Richard Brautigan reflects on the idea that every gain in life comes with a corresponding loss. It suggests that in the process of acquiring new experiences, relationships, or possessions, we inevitably leave something behind, creating a sense of nostalgia or mourning for what was relinquished. Brautigan invites us to contemplate the bittersweet nature of finding joy or fulfillment, which is often intertwined with the pain of letting go.
In practice
In a speech about personal growth, one could use this quote to emphasize the need to embrace change despite the sadness of what is left behind.
A sombrero fell out of the sky and landed on the main street of town in front of the mayor, his cousin, and a person out of work. The day was scrubbed clean by the desert air. The sky was blue. It was the blue of human eyes, waiting for something to happen. There was no reason for a sombrero to fall out of the sky. No airplane or helicopter was passing overhead and it was not a religious holiday.
In a Cafe" I watched a man in a cafe fold a slice of bread as if he were folding a birth certificate or looking at the photograph of a dead lover.
I like to think_x000D_ (it has to be!)_x000D_ of a cybernetic ecology_x000D_ where we are free of our labors_x000D_ and joined back to nature,_x000D_ returned to our mammal_x000D_ brothers and sisters,_x000D_ and all watched over_x000D_ by machines of loving grace.
I feel as if I am an ad for the sale of a haunted house: 18 rooms $37,000 Iβm yours ghosts and all.
Gee, You're so Beautiful That It's Starting to Rain Oh, Marcia, I want your long blonde beauty to be taught in high school, so kids will learn that God lives like music in the skin and sounds like a sunshine harpsicord. I want high school report cards to look like this: Playing with Gentle Glass Things A Computer Magic A Writing Letters to Those You Love A Finding out about Fish A Marcia's Long Blonde Beauty A+!
The minute the church and pastors start saying what do people want and then giving it to them, we betray our calling. We're called to have people follow Jesus. We're called to have people learn how to forgive their enemies.
Remain faithful to the earth, my brothers, with the power of your virtue. Let your gift-giving love and your knowledge serve the meaning of the earth. Thus I beg and beseech you. Do not let them fly away from earthly things and beat with their wings against eternal walls. Alas, there has always been so much virtue that has flown away. Lead back to the earth the virtue that flew away, as I doβback to the body, back to life, that it may give the earth a meaning, a human meaning.
I have a great mind to believe in Christianity for the mere pleasure of fancying I may be damned.
Don't tell me to believe. Don't tell me to believe in the same God or laws that men believe in who commit these murders. Don't tell me to believe that God can bless this country and that men are judged by their peers. Who among his peers judged him? Was I there? Was the minister there? Was Harry Williams there? Was Farrell Jarreau? Was my aunt? Was Vivian? No, his peers did not judge him, and I will not believe.
Has the world ever been changed by anything save the thought and its magic vehicle the Word?
I was raised a black child in the South, where you're indoctrinated into a religion that an oppressor gave you.
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