Saturday, December 20, 2008

Passions in Life

I chanced on this piece of writing today. This is exactly my state of mind today. As I sit alone in my room, exhausted after a day of cleaning and organizing stuff, a multitude of thoughts linger around in my head. Questions about life pop up once in a while, leaving me helpless as I struggle to find an answer. A satisfaction of having discovered something has engulfed me after reading this. :)


"Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living."

- Bertrand Russell