It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the absurdity and complexity of life can drive anyone to madness.
Ursula K. Le Guin's quote reflects on the chaotic nature of the world we live in, positing that the challenges and irrationality of life are such that a 'sane' individual may find it impossible to navigate without feeling a sense of madness. It speaks to the idea that embracing some degree of 'crazy' is a necessary response to the world's unpredictability and can be an essential part of the human experience.
In practice
In a discussion about mental health during a seminar, one could reference this quote to highlight the pressures of modern life.
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it. Finally, when we're done with it, we may find - if it's a good novel - that we're a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have changed a little... But it's very hard to say just what we learned, how we were changed.
Reason is a faculty far larger than mere objective force. When either the political or the scientific discourse announces itself as the voice of reason, it is playing God, and should be spanked and stood in the corner.
The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel... is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.
When he found that the administrators were upset, he laughed. βDo they expect students not to be anarchists?β he said. βWhat else can the young be? When you are on the bottom, you must organize from the bottom up
The honey doesn't taste so good once it is being eaten; the goal doesn't mean so much once it is reached; the reward is no so rewarding once it has been given. If we add up all the rewards in our lives, we won't have very much. But if we add up the spaces *between* the rewards, we'll come up with quite a bit. And if we add up the rewards *and* the spaces, then we'll have everything - every minute of the time that we spent.
We live in a world of communication - everyone gets information about everyone else. There is universal comparison and you don't just compare yourself with the people next door, you compare yourself to people all over the world and with what is being presented as the decent, proper and dignified life. It's the crime of humiliation.
Those that have had great passions esteem themselves for the rest of their lives fortunate and unfortunate in being cured of them.
Like apes, we breed, sleep, and die. Yet like God we say, "I am." We are ontological oxymorons.
The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.
I am not skilled enough or energetic enough to craft a persona. I just have to be who I am and hope people like it.
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