Jump off. You are a protected individual. Do not fear.
Henry MillerRead
There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy.
Interpretation
Adapting to a chaotic world is not the solution to finding peace or purpose.
Henry Miller's quote suggests that simply fitting into a chaotic and irrational world does not lead to personal salvation or fulfillment. Instead of conforming to the madness surrounding us, it encourages individuals to seek their own path and understanding, rather than accepting a distorted reality as a norm.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational seminar discussing mental health and self-acceptance.
Jump off. You are a protected individual. Do not fear.
I saw through to the last sign and symbol, but I could not read her face. I could see only the eyes shining through, huge, fleshy-like luminous beasts, as though I were swimming behind them in the electric effluvia of her incandescent vision.
The essential thing is to WANT to sing. This then is a song. I am singing.
Great God! What have I turned into? What right have you people to clutter up my life, steal my time, probe my soul, suckle my thoughts, have me for your companion, confidant, and information bureau? What do you take me for? Am I an entertainer on salary, required every evening to play an intellectual farce under your stupid noses? Am I a slave, bought and paid for, to crawl on my belly in front of you idlers and lay at your feet all that I do and all that I know?
We are swimming on the face of time and all else has drowned, is drowning, or will drown.
To sing you must first open your mouth. You must have a pair of lungs, and a little knowledge of music. It is not necessary to have an accordion, or a guitar. The essential thing is to want to sing. This then is a song. I am singing.
The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creatures that cannot.
In order to speak about all and to all, one has to speak of what all know and of the reality common to us all. The sea, rains, necessity, desire, the struggle against death... these are things that unite us all.
For always in her there was a dark place full of despair and a great dividing force to make meaning because there was none.
In the course of history, men come to see that iron necessity is neither iron nor necessary.
It is intolerable that the world's religions - founded on the values of love and compassion - should provide a pretext for the expression of hatred and violence.
What is at stake is human dignity. If a man is not accorded respect he cannot respect himself and if he does not respect himself, he cannot demand it.
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