Here and Now

one of my all-time favorite books is bertrand russels's "conquest of happiness". i found it refreshing tho i was a little disappointed that i needed to be reminded of things i used to find so obvious. bertrand russell was a scientist AND philosopher and promoted what many have called the "creative and rational life". what a wonderfully fine line that is. i didn't know this about russell when i read the book, lent to me by a colleague ali ishtiaq, but knowing my own tendencies it makes sense.

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i've recently been trying to rediscover "zest", one of the important ingredients in russell's happiness. not zest in the abstract or even far away places: zest in things we encounter everyday. isn't that a great recipe for happiness? but if we spend a lot of time in a place, we often fail to find the "zest" in it. we overlook it. in honor of this i am posting (above) a view out my window that entranced me for so long and lately i have not appreciated.

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i think this excerpt from russell's "conquest" amusingly captures the gist of this.

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"there was once upon a time two sausage machines, exquisitely constructed for the purpose of turning pig into the most delicious sausages." ...(mmmm...sausages)..."one of these retained his zest for pig and produced sausages innumerable, the other said 'what is pig to me? my own works are far more interesting and wonderful than any pig.' he refused pig and set to work to study his inside. when bereft of its natural food, his inside ceased to function, and the more he studied it, the more empty and foolish it seemed to him to be." ............"the man, therefore, whose attention is turned within finds nothing worthy of his notice, whereas the man whose attention is turned outward can find within, in those rare moments when he examines his soul, the most varied and interesting assortments of ingredients...".

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(bertrand russell, Conquest of Happiness, 1930)

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ok, the non-italicized homer simpson sausage insert was mine. but this goes beyond appreciating the same things you see everyday. It means finding new things in everyday experiences. I am challenging us all to do this. Cheers!