[lit-ideas] Re: Dr. Feelgood and the Interns
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 22:49:54 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Aug 22, 2004 10:15 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Dr. Feelgood and the Interns
A. Amago:
> As to whether philosophy would have helped, I read somewhere
> that Russell Bertrand was depressed to where he was contemplating ending
his
> life.
Reminds me of the lines from Ferlinghetti:
"I read the meaning of life somewhere
but I can't remember exactly where...."
A.A. I was on a philosophy kick once upon a long time ago. I got over it.
Can't remember now most of what I read.
> Then while walking on a beach he began to consider life, and it gave him
> enough purpose, shall we say, to keep going.
M.G. Wait, are you telling me the man never considered life until he got to the
beach? Wow.
A.A. He also considered it in his bathtub and on his porch. But when he got
to the beach you see ...
M.G. No wonder he wanted to kill himself. I'm sure it was all
those girls from Ipanema that gave him purpose. I know they keep me going.
What's the meaning of life? Yes, you guessed it, you dirty old man.
A.A. I'm going to buy you a one way ticket to see some geisha girls.
M.G. But I wonder why you would cite Bertrand Russell's suicidal thoughts as
though
they were somehow aberrant.
A.A. Did I say they were aberrant?
M.G. I don't think I've gone a day since puberty
that I didn't weigh the pros and cons of killing myself.
A.A. I think most people with a brain do. It's the sheep out there who don't
have a thought in their heads who are so content with J.Lo's latest. I was in
a client's waiting room one day and the receptionist was opening the mail. The
latest issue of People magazine came in and she literally squealed with
delight. She looked at me and said, I love this magazine, and lovingly put it
aside for later to read. I said yeah, it's a good magazine [you brainless
piece of mutton].
M.G. No tomorrow,
surcease of sorrow. All right, maybe not sorrow, I've lived a pretty
pampered life compared to most people in the world. But death would bring
an end to bloody, demanding consciousness, as Paul Stone would call it. No
more what now? what now? what now? what now? Make it stop! Of course
there's always drinking as Paul pointed out. "Nietzsche can teach ya, but
liquor is quicker" as Ogden should have said. That and curiosity. I wonder
if tomorrow it'll be different.
A.A. Americans are not the happiest people in the world, literally. Without
looking it up, we might even be below some African nations. Regarding death,
for millennia death was a part of life, and life historically was half what it
is today, 40 or so years on average. People expected death, accepted it,
prepared for it. It's only fairly recently that death has become taboo, never
mentioned, shunned. Morticians are considered weird people. My personal
opinion is that it's going to happen, and it's no big deal.
Andy Amago
Mike Geary
Memphis
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