I've been re-reading Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, the expanded edition. It's a trip to go back in time and think about my teen-aged self reading the same book some twenty years ago. I used to meditate at my bro's pad's LA swimming pool and pretend I was deep, ha ha ! Not much changes - or everything does. As a teen, you have a bunch of grandiose ideas and fuzzy certainties about how life is going to be. On the adult end, my needs have compressed some - less room for philosophy and idealism, more space for coffee. As a young man, I knew I was going to break out of the rigid traditions and mores that defined the folk in my town. As my new, panicking, on-the-verge-of-middle-age dude, I appreciate how the people in my home town kept their doors shut and had their parties over with by 10pm. What a conundrum! How can I further grok this?
Must...stop...grokking. Go...to...work...punch...clock. Obey...boss...cash...paycheck...never...sleep.
mORE GROKKING, mORE ROCKING, LESS TIME-CLOCKING
1 comment:
Justin here Ed. I read Stranger In A Strange Land as a teenager too. Right about the same time I read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. We are supposed to be idealistic when we are young because it promotes new ideas. It creates a fearless kind of passion in our lives that burns bright for a while. With age though that fire tends to flicker, dim or go completely out. Writers like Heinlein show us that even as we grow older we don't have to give up on passion and idealism. One of my philosophy professors told me that idealism is a goal we never reach but life is about the process of moving towards that goal. In aging we find wisdom, whether we use it or not, or even know what to do with, it is up to us. We have no choice but to get wise, but it is a double edged sword where we can learn from our experiences or use it as an excuse to stray from the path. I love the blog Ed, thanx for sharing.
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