"Hope is a waking dream." -Aristotle
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"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anaïs Nin
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Words to Live By
"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.
"Now, I came to this idea of bliss because in Sanskrit, which is the great spiritual language of the world, there are three terms that represent the brink, the jumping-off place to the ocean of transcendence: sat-chit-ananda. The word "Sat" means being. "Chit" means consciousness. "Ananda" means bliss or rapture. I thought, 'I don't know whether my consciousness is proper consciousness or not; I don't know whether what I know of my being is my proper being or not; but I do know where my rapture is. So let me hang on to rapture, and that will bring me both my consciousness and my being.' I think it worked."
- Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
"Now, I came to this idea of bliss because in Sanskrit, which is the great spiritual language of the world, there are three terms that represent the brink, the jumping-off place to the ocean of transcendence: sat-chit-ananda. The word "Sat" means being. "Chit" means consciousness. "Ananda" means bliss or rapture. I thought, 'I don't know whether my consciousness is proper consciousness or not; I don't know whether what I know of my being is my proper being or not; but I do know where my rapture is. So let me hang on to rapture, and that will bring me both my consciousness and my being.' I think it worked."
- Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
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3 comments:
While I love Plato/Socrates, I find Aristotle quite a bore. I never understood why he had such influence over Western thought.
But, yes, having hope can be like a waking dream, but this begs the questions, since dreams end and reality prevails, does this mean hope ends and reality prevails?
I too prefer Plato/Socrates to Aristotle. And believe me, as a student of Rhetoric, I've read plenty of their works. Plato/Socrates was far more compelling philosophically. Socrates was a considerable influence on Rhetoric but just not as interesting for me either.
Yet, this quote, in its utter simplicity, seemed very apt me. I view dream in this sense to go beyond just that of our sleep or unconscious/subconscious. I consider it to reflect the consciousness of a dream...but beyond just realizing we possess a specific goal...and more so the pinnacle of awareness for a dream/goal. In that awareness lies hope.
So, in that sense of dream, no it does not end and reality prevails. And as disgustingly optimistic as this may sound, I believe that dreams and reality can successfully co-exist.
I always loved the way Socrates was able to lead people to completely opposite conclusions from what they began with. I also loved his argument, when sentenced to death, that he was obligated to obey the state because it nurtured, educated and protected him. Not that I agreed with the argument.
The intro to the Republic is brilliant, the main text is pretty blah.
I love best the writings of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.
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