Thursday, February 9, 2012

Pilgrimage to the center of time.

Song for this post: "Lonely Hands" ~ Angus & Julia Stone
"The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone."
You wanna do something that will ruin your day and fill you with utter despair? Read "Einstein's Dreams" by Alan Lightman.

Srsly.


I read it a long time ago and picked it back up recently when a friend quoted it on Facebook. You can read that passage here. Reading the excerpt, I remembered how extremely well Mr. Lightman paints his picture. Alan Lightman sits in my brain with maybe 4 other writers who are so unbelievably phenomenal at pulling you into their world that you must pay them respect. Do I suggest reading it? YES. The book is profound. But be prepared to feel FEELINGS for days. He's really, truly, on a new level when it comes to getting a reader to emotionally dial into what you're writing.  One paragraph of his works and I'm emotionally invested. He has a real gift... If only he'd use his powers for good.

So, in an effort to "pay respect" to Mr. Lightman I picked the book back up recently for another read. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was just in a dark place the last time I read it. Maybe, since life is so great now, I'll read it again and see something different.

Nope.

Reading it again has left me with a renewed feeling of hopelessness and debilitating fear of death and loneliness.

Thanks fucker.

Buy "Einstein's Dreams" for Kindle here.

I should probably clarify: This book is SUPPOSED to inspire you to live life to the fullest. But, since I'm terrified of time and death, it just debilitates me and serves as a glaring reminder that we're all slaves to time, no matter what we do. Relationships are finite and we all die.  Who knows. Maybe you'll love it.

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