(no subject)
Yesterday's entry gave away a bit of the negativity I have been feeling lately - but I don't think it's necessarily a harmful negativity. Possibly uncoincidentally, I have found myself reading philosophy books recently, not something I would usually do, but something which I have enjoyed. I picked up a copy of Schopenhauer's 'On The Suffering Of The World' from a little display in Waterstone's, and read the title essay almost straight away. A lot of it made perfect sense to me, but I did find myself railing against Schopenhauer's negative outlook on the world, which convinced me that I am not as much of a pessimist as I thought. The general idea that we should consider each other as fellow sufferers in a world which will never be painless, and which will always be a disappointment, interested me. Schopenhauer put forward the theory that if we all thought this way, we wouold be much kinder to each other, since we would feel some sort of brotherhood between victims.
Yesterday I read a chapter from Alain de Botton's 'Consolations of Philsophy' (a book which I pick up every so often and always like). This time I read 'Consolation for Difficulties', and found that the chapter was based on Nietzsche. Being the ignorant person that I am, I knew nothing of Nietzsche's life or influences, but was interested to find that one of his main influences was Schopenhauer. However, Nietzsche turned against the pessimistic view as he grew older, and I found that I agreed more the outlook that although there will inevitably be trials and pain throughout life, we have a choice either to work through this and achieve happiness and maybe success, or wallow in mediocrity and not try to rise above the hardships.
This particular quote struck me, in relation to discussions from both docbrite and greygirlbeast's journals regarding suffering and art:
'...no one is able to produce a great work of art without experience, nor achieve a worldly position immediately, nor be a great lover at the first attempt; and in the interval between initial failure and subsequent success, in the gap between who we wish one day to be and who we are at present, must come pain, anxiety, envy and humiliation.'
Yes, experience of life helps us to become more rounded individuals, and I believe that experience is invaluable in writing. But I don't believe we need to be stuck at the learning level (which the painful, humiliated part is) constantly to produce something of worth. To be able to recall it, and express it, is enough.
Poverty is one example of the pain many of us go through on the way to reaching our dreams - but poverty doesn't actually GIVE us our dreams, or provide us with talents. The same goes for anger and heartbreak, and the countless other things we all deal with at some point. It's the drive to go on despite the hardship that makes certain individuals stand out. I found it odd that someone would consider poverty essential to great art. It's the desire to be a great artist that makes great art, combined with the strength to better yourself, and to put up with poverty and often with rejection. Or so I think, anyway, and I am sticking with it. If anyone wants to donate all their money to me in order to be a poverty-stricken genius, go ahead...
Yesterday I read a chapter from Alain de Botton's 'Consolations of Philsophy' (a book which I pick up every so often and always like). This time I read 'Consolation for Difficulties', and found that the chapter was based on Nietzsche. Being the ignorant person that I am, I knew nothing of Nietzsche's life or influences, but was interested to find that one of his main influences was Schopenhauer. However, Nietzsche turned against the pessimistic view as he grew older, and I found that I agreed more the outlook that although there will inevitably be trials and pain throughout life, we have a choice either to work through this and achieve happiness and maybe success, or wallow in mediocrity and not try to rise above the hardships.
This particular quote struck me, in relation to discussions from both docbrite and greygirlbeast's journals regarding suffering and art:
'...no one is able to produce a great work of art without experience, nor achieve a worldly position immediately, nor be a great lover at the first attempt; and in the interval between initial failure and subsequent success, in the gap between who we wish one day to be and who we are at present, must come pain, anxiety, envy and humiliation.'
Yes, experience of life helps us to become more rounded individuals, and I believe that experience is invaluable in writing. But I don't believe we need to be stuck at the learning level (which the painful, humiliated part is) constantly to produce something of worth. To be able to recall it, and express it, is enough.
Poverty is one example of the pain many of us go through on the way to reaching our dreams - but poverty doesn't actually GIVE us our dreams, or provide us with talents. The same goes for anger and heartbreak, and the countless other things we all deal with at some point. It's the drive to go on despite the hardship that makes certain individuals stand out. I found it odd that someone would consider poverty essential to great art. It's the desire to be a great artist that makes great art, combined with the strength to better yourself, and to put up with poverty and often with rejection. Or so I think, anyway, and I am sticking with it. If anyone wants to donate all their money to me in order to be a poverty-stricken genius, go ahead...