friends poorer than you
Though physical health is primary in leading to happiness. The wisdom is this above all, to find happiness is to have friends poorer than you.
Give them your ears, lend them no money, and laugh with the slightest mirth when they talk of their mortgage woe and their consumptive sorrow. Then in your simpering voice, relay them your equal stature, but take pride in your many possessions, knowing that they have less.
Common wisdom has it that we are lied to 200 times a day. I'm sure in your latest conversation, you've withheld a truth, or summarize a gossip falsely. I know sometimes we lie to save time, but deception is what our life is made on.
When we see people act on TV and in theatres, when we do impressions and imitations of other people more famous than we are, when we award each other for a convincing show of inhabitating another's personality, we love and respect deceptions that harass our senses and make us weep and laugh.
But more complex and darker yet is our capacity for self-deception.
You lie to yourself when you promise not to eat any more potato chips. You lie to yourself when you promise to exercise for at least twenty minutes a day. You lie to yourself when you promise not to be on the computer for more than an hour, but time has taken four. You lie to yourself when you promise to do your project for a deadline, but procrastinate.
In this, our self-deception is unmatched. As long as you haven't told anyone, it makes whatever you're telling yourself not real enough to fulfill.
Give them your ears, lend them no money, and laugh with the slightest mirth when they talk of their mortgage woe and their consumptive sorrow. Then in your simpering voice, relay them your equal stature, but take pride in your many possessions, knowing that they have less.
Common wisdom has it that we are lied to 200 times a day. I'm sure in your latest conversation, you've withheld a truth, or summarize a gossip falsely. I know sometimes we lie to save time, but deception is what our life is made on.
When we see people act on TV and in theatres, when we do impressions and imitations of other people more famous than we are, when we award each other for a convincing show of inhabitating another's personality, we love and respect deceptions that harass our senses and make us weep and laugh.
But more complex and darker yet is our capacity for self-deception.
You lie to yourself when you promise not to eat any more potato chips. You lie to yourself when you promise to exercise for at least twenty minutes a day. You lie to yourself when you promise not to be on the computer for more than an hour, but time has taken four. You lie to yourself when you promise to do your project for a deadline, but procrastinate.
In this, our self-deception is unmatched. As long as you haven't told anyone, it makes whatever you're telling yourself not real enough to fulfill.
Labels: money
posted by Alan at August 15, 2005
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home