Reason Versus Emotion

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Reason leads to conclusions. Emotion leads to action.

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Nothing new, but well put

A Quote From Sterling Hayden’s Book, Wanderer

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… cruising it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

The line that really gets me is, “The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.”

Can’t unscramble the egg

65 years ago today was one of those very few points in the history of mankind where the world fundamentally changed.

I don’t think anything human kind has ever done has caused so much loss of life in such a short period. And thus among many other things that changed, we reached a point where the use of maximum force to defeat an enemy could literally mean wiping them, or indeed all of us, out.

Today…it isn’t in the news, people don’t talk about it, and I doubt very many people are even aware of the anniversary. I do think about it every year around this time. Life does go on, but these things leave scars. We definitely showed that we were willing to (somewhat) indiscriminately take lives to obtain our objectives.

Ignorance and Confidence

These are the two qualities Mark Twain said are all that is needed for success.

One doesn’t have to look too far to see evidence of the truth in this.  It’s a potentially nasty combination though. They can produce hubris and other errors in judgement that can lead to miserable, flaming failure. Yet another example that what is required for success is a dangerous combination that can blow up in your face.