Emo-kid loves his Cynic
The highest art equally evokes both the stark, grim reality of life as well as its fleeting compassion and melancholy. It is the stuff made by those who possess a character that looks into the abyss but still has the spirit or energy not to be sucked in and consumed. Naturally these are the most interesting people: those who see the horrors but have the depth of character to detach from it.
Lacking energy or vigor or enthusiasm in life will make you a callous person, consumed with shallowness, bitterness, fleeting drives and emotions, greed, envy, fear. So much of the art and culture that surrounds us seems to reflect this stuff, people wallowing in these emotions and dishing it out for us to consume in likeness. Ghouls at the trough.
Despite the rampant advertisements and peer pressure, corrupt financiers, untalented people in positions of influence, and the general unfairness of it all, it’s important not to become a negative or hateful person. And from that position, seeing it for what it is but not becoming as such, that’s where good stuff comes from.
It’s like that Henry James quote from before:
Life is, in fact, a battle. Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy. But the world as it stands is no narrow illusion, no phantasm, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it, forever and ever; and we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it. –Henry James
Nobody can live your life for you, nobody can take care of your troubles, and nobody will care about you more than themselves. It seems so cruel, but there are glimpses of something nicer if you know where to look.
