Thursday, April 1, 2010

"Rimbaud knew better than to save any of himself for the grave; he spent every resource he had in this world down to the last penny- burned money, health, friends, family, sanity as so much fuel for the fire- so when Death came to take him away He got nothing..."
...
"... our lives end up revolving around Things, as if happiness is to be found in possessions rather than in free actions and pursuits. Those who have wealth have it because they spent a lot of time and energy figuring out how to get it from other people. Those who have very little have to spend most of their lives working to get what they need to survive, and all they have as consolation for their lives of hard labor and poverty are the few things they are able to buy... members of the middle class... have been bombarded from birth with advertisements and other propaganda proclaiming that happiness, youth, meaning, and everything else in life are to be found in possessions and status symbols. They learn to spend their lives working hard to collect these, rather than taking advantage of whatever chances they might seek to have adventure and pleasure. "
...

"There is no place for the passionate, romantic lover in today's world, business or private- for he can see it might be more worthwhile to hitchhike to Alaska (or sit in the park and watch the clouds sail by) with his sweetheart than study for his calculus exam or sell real estate... and if he decides that it is, he will have the courage to do it rather than be tormented by unsatisfied longing. He knows that breaking into a cemetary and making love under the stars will make for a more memorable night than watching television ever could. So love poses a threat to our consumer-driven economy, which depends upon consumption of largely useless and labor that this consumption necessitates to perpetuate itself."

-from a book with a lot of crazy ideas (like communism and anarchism) and a couple good ones (pointing out fixation on consumption over experiences). Unfortunately its frequent wanders down extremist paths of thought prevents it from being a good read overall.

No comments:

Post a Comment