I have always been impressed by the fact that there are a surprising number of individuals who never use their minds if they can avoid it, and an equal number who do use their minds, but in an amazingly stupid way.
Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)
From Jonathan Carroll’s - Blog
Today’s homework assignment: In one hundred and fifty words or less, describe one of the happiest days of your life.
We spent that summer in Brittany. Every day the weather was beauitful, which is very rare for that part of France. The morning I finished writing my 2nd novel, I took it to the tiny village post office to photocopy, and then watched the ancient postmistress cover every inch of the package with beautiful multicolored French postage stamps. When she was finished she said a loud “eh voila!” and smiled. My brand new manuscript was on its way out into the world. We immediately went to “The King of Chicken” roadside stand and bought a just-grilled chicken and fresh baguette for lunch. We ate them sitting on a high dune while looking at the ocean. I was elated because I’d finally finished and was positive the novel would make me famous. Months later my agent called from New York to say every publisher had rejected it.
Your turn…
I have been a very blessed person in the fact that I have some amazing experiences. A drive around Michigan International Speedway with Paul Newman, standing in the Indy 500 Winners Circle with Helio Castroneves, and of course beautiful moments in time from travelling all over the world. But one of my favorites is sitting in a bistro in New Orleans with Suse and eating the most amazing sandwiches in a room painted the color of the sun. It was the moment in time that I realized that I had painted my world in such a way that all I had ever dreamed of had come true.
From Jonathan Carroll’s Blog - CarrollBlog 3.13
At the end of the film A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, after many struggles and setbacks the heroine is reunited with her adored fiancee. The only problem is the lover has suffered a grievous head wound that erased all of his memory. When they are reunited, he doesn’t know who she is. In Julie Christie’s recent film AWAY FROM HER, she plays a woman with Alzheimer’s Disease who gradually loses her memory and with it her ability to recognize her husband of many years. At the end of both stories the ones “left behind” look at their partners with equal amounts of longing and confusion because there they are right in front of them, but no, they aren’t “there” at all any more. In both cases it brings up the essential question– what makes us who we are? Our physical selves? Our memories? Our ties to other people? Our achievements (including our children)… Other, perhaps more ineffable/undefinable things? It’s stuff for a serious ontological discussion (or philosophy class), but also an intriguing question that can be batted back and forth across the ping pong table of your own mind when you’re in the bath tonight: what makes me who I am? If you took away this or that (my memory, or my sense of humor, or my eyesight, for example) would I still be me? Or would the loss of such things disappear me?
