24 April 2010

On the Contrary

How nice — to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive. — Kurt Vonnegut
I used to think feeling nothing was nice. It was a convenient defense mechanism against the trials of my life. But now, if I were French, or spoke French, or liked French, I would say, "Au contraire!" But since I'm not, I'll just say: "On the contrary!"

3 comments:

  1. And Kleist said: "Experiencing pain makes us able to feel joy, just as evil let's us identify the good." How have you been feeling lately?

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  2. That's true. Sometimes I can't even feel the pain. I just feel nothing. I don't like that. But thanks for writing. How are you feeling?

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  3. Like floating in a water tank (though I actually never have done that, I am sure it feels like that). I am not sure either what this feeling means - just that sometimes in life things are complicated, all at once, and you end up that you have to say that you just don't have a clue what to do..... I guess this ambivalence is a systemic thing to life,...:-)

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