Every person's life, we say, is a story. In fact, when a life becomes story, a person knows he has 'a life.' The narrative instinct sorts, orders, represses, highlights, finessing its way to a certain contour—not to 'reality,' and certainly not to 'the truth,' but to shapeliness. To represent the whole of reality is beyond the capacity of art, even outside its desire.
—Patricia Hampl
People often argue
People often argue against the pursuit of "empty pleasures," yet I rarely see anyone choosing to decline them in favor of "full miseries." Surely a subtle gradient of satisfaction and enrichment is more realistic than such a stark, puritanical contrast.
Labels: thought
