The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Part One
As everyone who has talked to me in the past two weeks knows, I'm currently reading Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being. I have professed this to be the best book ever, which I'm sure, it is not. However for the time being it is 'speaking' to me on so many levels. I plan on renewing this book so that I can share those insights which have caused me to embrace this book like no other...
I will begin my dissection of the awesomeness of the ULOB...
Generic Background Synopsis:
The story centers around four adults, three of which are Czech (probably yet another reason why I love the book as my Prague adventure forever endeared me to the country, it's arts, sports, etc). Two are married, the husband sleeping with the mistress who connects us to the fourth person. The story follows their thoughts as they move through life, and how they perceive things in contrast to those around them....
Awesomeness Insight #1:
"We can never know what to want, because living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come".
Reason this quote is so awesome...
Numerous times in my life I have often thought, 'next time around, I'll do that'. I have used this rationale to put off learning Mandarin, studying medicine, approaching crushes, dealing with negotiations, etc. Of course, I know that there isn't a next time around but for the brief seconds that I think this thought I truly believe it...as if to rationalize my current actions. It lets me think that I can continually revisit a subject and perfect it when I need to. Then I'm brought back to reality and I realize I won't be a doctor, I won't be speaking mandarin when I'm a teenager, and at the age of 16 I will always be the shy girl who will never get the crush, etc. And then I accept it as it is and make a vow to work with what I've got right now...
So this is an awesomeness insight because it lets us know that being confused, our 'crises' are perfectly legit, because how the fuck are we supposed to know what we want. Choosing one path means giving up another, and we have the right to be happy with the path we choose but to mourn the loss of the path we reject. I guess the trick is to mourn but to get over it...how one does that, I'm not exactly the expert on it...
Stay tuned for more awesomness insights...
This has been the word of Kundera, as translate by Lyla
I will begin my dissection of the awesomeness of the ULOB...
Generic Background Synopsis:
The story centers around four adults, three of which are Czech (probably yet another reason why I love the book as my Prague adventure forever endeared me to the country, it's arts, sports, etc). Two are married, the husband sleeping with the mistress who connects us to the fourth person. The story follows their thoughts as they move through life, and how they perceive things in contrast to those around them....
Awesomeness Insight #1:
"We can never know what to want, because living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come".
Reason this quote is so awesome...
Numerous times in my life I have often thought, 'next time around, I'll do that'. I have used this rationale to put off learning Mandarin, studying medicine, approaching crushes, dealing with negotiations, etc. Of course, I know that there isn't a next time around but for the brief seconds that I think this thought I truly believe it...as if to rationalize my current actions. It lets me think that I can continually revisit a subject and perfect it when I need to. Then I'm brought back to reality and I realize I won't be a doctor, I won't be speaking mandarin when I'm a teenager, and at the age of 16 I will always be the shy girl who will never get the crush, etc. And then I accept it as it is and make a vow to work with what I've got right now...
So this is an awesomeness insight because it lets us know that being confused, our 'crises' are perfectly legit, because how the fuck are we supposed to know what we want. Choosing one path means giving up another, and we have the right to be happy with the path we choose but to mourn the loss of the path we reject. I guess the trick is to mourn but to get over it...how one does that, I'm not exactly the expert on it...
Stay tuned for more awesomness insights...
This has been the word of Kundera, as translate by Lyla
Labels: Literature
posted by Lyla @ 1:00 PM
1 Comments:
At 11:51 PM,
Daniela said…
I've just spent the last half hour taking vague career quizzes in a desperate attempt to figure out what I must secretly want to do with my life. But this quotation has made me feel like it's inevitable to feel confused and so I shouldn't worry about it anymore. Because, as you say, how the fuck should I know which path to choose!
Of course, this could launch me into desperate attempts to remember past lives, but I doubt it (I already tried that in the 90s--damn you Brian Weiss--and it didn't work).
Anyhow, I guess now that I'm closer to accepting that it's not possible to know which path to take, I can comfortably take the path of sleep and stop answering questions like:
Do you prefer
A)Fundamentals, or
B)Overtones?
(What the hell does that mean, anyway?)
PS-the word of the day appears to be "desperate". AAAA! (Am I the only one who remembers Pee-Wee's Playhouse?)
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