You live in a deranged age, more deranged that usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.
Walker PercyRead
Since grief only aggravates your loss, grieve not for what is past.
Interpretation
Grieving for what is lost only deepens the feeling of loss; it's better to let go of the past.
Walker Percyβs quote emphasizes the idea that dwelling on grief can hinder healing and prevent moving forward in life. Instead of continuing to mourn what has already been lost, he suggests adopting a mindset that focuses on the present and future, encouraging individuals to embrace life despite their losses.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
You live in a deranged age, more deranged that usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.
They all think any minute I'm going to commit suicide. What a joke. The truth of course is the exact opposite: suicide is the only thing that keeps me alive. Whenever everything else fails, all I have to do is consider suicide and in two seconds I'm as cheerful as a nitwit. But if I could not kill myself -- ah then, I would. I can do without nembutal or murder mysteries but not without suicide.
It is possible, however, that the artist is both thin-skinned and prophetic and, like the canary lowered into the mine shaft to test the air, has caught a whiff of something lethal.
Why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair?
We love those who know the worst of us and don't turn their faces away.
Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I wander seriously and sit and read as a diversion.
One can live at a low flame. Most people do. For some, life is an exercise in moderation (best china saved for special occasions), but given something like death, what does it matter if one looks foolish now and then, or tries too hard, or cares too _x000D_ deeply?
One cat just leads to another. The place is so damned big it doesn't really seem as though there were many cats until you see them all moving like a mass migration at feeding time.
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and with that one, is what we are doing.
That was a wonderful period in my life. I mean, I didn't become an artist, but somebody let me do something I loved. What a luxury, to do something you love to do.
Did not one spend the first half of one's days in dreams of happiness and the second half in regrets and terrors?
There are some men in this world who are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father's one of them.
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