On Despair
Dec. 30th, 2010 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
honestas There is no such thing as despair. Well, we can define it, we can describe, what we mean when we say the word, but it doesn't exist in, for example, pink flying elephant's sort of way: though we can imagine it, we shouldn't be afraid of it.
How do we describe despair? Despair is a feeling we perceive if we reckon that there is no help for us and nothing would change whatever we do. And while we are brooding on such a thought there comes awareness that our life is finished and nothing more to be done (that's the second time I said "nothing", by the way).
But all that just can't be true. Every human being is everchanging, everlearning, evergrowing in experience and — if that person wishes — in power of spirit. So it is more prudent instead of brooding on "What am I to lose?" to wonder "What am I to gain? What am I to learn? What am I to understand?". And, as you probably already see, there at once appears something to do and somewhere to go.
We can't take with us anything at all into after-life, save only our souls as they are. So there is just no point in contests or salaries, or offices, or family as such, or even children themselves — because no one shall go with us beyond death but those who desire it. And that can't be helped. But all we can take with us no one can take away. So — win or lose contest, take office or give it away, earn or spend money — you're always a winner, and shouldn't be a whiner. Let no mundane profit or the lack of it deceive you from your true goal, because you're not belong that world that will perish ere long.
But suppose the person is craving only spiritual wealth and by some accident or his own mistake lose it all. Just as he starts to despair, he should stop it at once. Because that short mortal life matters not it quantity of said wealth, but its quality. And so says our Lord: "I shall judge you as I find you". So let him not find you idle, but alert and collecting.
Cited from my formspring.me account.
How do we describe despair? Despair is a feeling we perceive if we reckon that there is no help for us and nothing would change whatever we do. And while we are brooding on such a thought there comes awareness that our life is finished and nothing more to be done (that's the second time I said "nothing", by the way).
But all that just can't be true. Every human being is everchanging, everlearning, evergrowing in experience and — if that person wishes — in power of spirit. So it is more prudent instead of brooding on "What am I to lose?" to wonder "What am I to gain? What am I to learn? What am I to understand?". And, as you probably already see, there at once appears something to do and somewhere to go.
We can't take with us anything at all into after-life, save only our souls as they are. So there is just no point in contests or salaries, or offices, or family as such, or even children themselves — because no one shall go with us beyond death but those who desire it. And that can't be helped. But all we can take with us no one can take away. So — win or lose contest, take office or give it away, earn or spend money — you're always a winner, and shouldn't be a whiner. Let no mundane profit or the lack of it deceive you from your true goal, because you're not belong that world that will perish ere long.
But suppose the person is craving only spiritual wealth and by some accident or his own mistake lose it all. Just as he starts to despair, he should stop it at once. Because that short mortal life matters not it quantity of said wealth, but its quality. And so says our Lord: "I shall judge you as I find you". So let him not find you idle, but alert and collecting.
Cited from my formspring.me account.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 11:27 pm (UTC)PS Угу. единственная хорошая вещь в моих депрах -- это внезапные ремиссии. Оно выключилось.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 11:45 pm (UTC)По поводу цели и движения к ней всегда-всегда. Ты с Бужолд не знакома? У неё есть неплохой отрывочек. То есть, у неё много всего хорошего, но данный конкретный отрывочек мне кажется относящимся к теме.
"You can beat the memory drugs, some, if you know how."
Vorkosigan raised his eyebrows. Evidently this was new to him, too."How do you do that, Sergeant?" he asked, carefully neutral.
"Someone I knew once told me... You write down what you want to remember, and think about it. Then hide it — the way we used to hide your secret files from Radnov, sir — they never figured it out either. Then first thing when you get back, before your stomach even settles, take it out and look at it. If you can remember one thing on the list, you can usually get the rest, before they come back again. Then do the same thing again. And again. It helps if you have an, an object, too."
©Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 11:48 pm (UTC)