Reply from F.
Subject: tuesday afternoon / eco, etc. Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 18:23:44 -0400

> I finished Eco's The Name of the Rose today and got depressed.
Maybe it's just depressing. ;)

> Maybe I have enough of reasons for a while. Now I want some passion. Will Henry Miller do it for me? Or is he too proud too?
Those are just literary questions. Mind trips. Taking things seriously, which perhaps don't deserve to be taken that seriously...

> Perhaps it is a sign that I should resume writing my own.
Now. *that* is a good conclusion. :) Writing yourself is something a lot more valid than taking the writings of others any seriously. Writing is a personal growth process. And one that can be shared with others.

>... Yes, the book is a ladder and now I have discovered it was meaningless...
I wouldn't say "meaningless". Meaning comes from within. Therefore, anything is as meaningful or meaningless as each of us makes it to be. I'd say of "little or no importance".

> So I am irritated with my re-discovery. :( Or maybe I am just frustrated? Why? I am unsatisfied, intellectually. What's going on? And is there a way out? Can someone or something catch me out there so I won't fall, or fall further?
You are again making the case about needing a good Master. ;) Things are lot more simple when you follow a path rather than trailblazing it. ;)

> I need a vacuum cleaner and I will go to get one now. And I will learn about methane on Mars.
Now, *those* are useful resolutions. ;)

> Balance. Perhaps balance will save me.
Balance is good. But do you really need to be saved?

> I don't want to be proud and arrogant. I want to be humble again.
Back to the need for a Master thing, I see.... ;)

PS: Here is an interesting tidbit...
"Tribal Wisdom as it applies to Government Agencies and Corporate America (and Major Universities as well, probably. ;)
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."
However, in government, education, and in corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as: 1. Buying a bigger whip. 2. Changing riders. 3. Appointing a committee to study the horse. 4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride horses. 5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included. 6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired. 7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse. 8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed. 9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance. 10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance. 11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses. 12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses. And of course my favorite... 13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position." by Author Unknown.