Written in old age:
“I have never belonged wholeheartedly to a country, a state, nor to a circle of friends, nor even to my own family. When I was still a rather precocious young man, I already realized most vividly the futility of the hopes and aspirations that most men pursue throughout their lives. Well-being and happiness never appeared to me as an absolute aim. I am even inclined to compare such moral aims to the ambitions of a pig.”
This is from a forwarded email… —— Subject: Two Choices At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: “When not interfered…
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Finally managed to see the movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai last week! In summary I’d say it was not just a case of a ghost or schizophrenia or a new label ‘gandhigiri’, but a simple matter of discovering within ourselves… an elegant and creative possibility of living non-destructively ! 🙂
The Taj Mahal was built on the love of a man for his wife. The Pyramid is built on the belief of after life. The Great Wall of China has been built as a political divide, The Colosseum was built to pit fighter against fighter for cruel fights to the death. In our current era,…
This is a flashback really, of something that happened in 1998… This is very delicate subject, and I’ve tried to avoid any morbidity or depression in it though thats rather tricky. One may ask why I share such personal details publicly. I thought about it, and felt that there are times when what I’ve learnt…
If there’s one thing I can think of to improve Indian culture it is this – and I believe it should be taught right in school itself, or atleast during the degree level of education…
well, doesn’t look surprising to me. I get a feeling that he knew exactly what he was destined to do in his life. Perhaps great men do.
“well being and happiness” is generally the aim, but not necessarily for everyone. If it wasn’t that, we wouldn’t have had Mother Teresa or Bhagath Singh or any other of those immortals who ignored “well being and happiness” for something else which they thought their life was destined for.
Hmm… makes sense, though one thing I doubt is if he knew exactly what he was destined to do in his life. Hopefully this quote is not out of context, where he’s said “if we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research would it?” Even Gandhi calls his autobiography as Experiments with Truth
I suppose the mark of great people is – anybody, possibly even you or me – who is completely content with whatever it is he or she is doing. It is of minor consequence if they simply end up being recognised as great later 🙂 A similar idea seems to be expressed in the book “‘Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman!” particularly in the chapter “The Dignified Professor“.