We are surrounded by darkness on all sides as we rush through our brief span of life toward inevitable death. The agonized question “Why?” that almost every man feels at some moment or other as he becomes conscious of his condition is quickly stifled by the cliché answers that society has available. Society provides us with religious systems and social rituals, ready-made, that relieve us of such questioning. The “world-taken-for-granted,” the social world that tells us that everything is quite okay, is the location of our inauthenticity.
Peter Berger, Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective (via danilova)
What others regard as fate, he looks upon as a set of factors to reckon with in his operations. What others assume to be essential identity, he handles as a convenient disguise. In other words, “ecstasy” transforms one’s awareness of society in such a way that givenness becomes possibility.
Peter Berger, Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective (via danilova)
Why does one begin to write? Because she feels misunderstood, I guess. Because it never comes out clearly enough when she tries to speak. Because she wants to rephrase the world, to take it in and give it back again differently, so that everything is used and nothing is lost.
Nicole Krauss (via 500daysofkissingmypillow)
What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.
The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis (via itookadeepbreath)
(Source: effyeahyoungadultlit)
Over time, however, something strange began to happen. The actual terrors that we faced began to lessen in intensity as we gained increasing control over our environment. But instead of our fears lessening as well, they began to multiply in number. We started to worry about our status in society – whether people liked us, or how we fit into the group. We became anxious for our livelihoods, the future of our families and children, our personal health and the aging process. Instead of a simple intense fear of something powerful and real, we developed a kind of generalised anxiety. It was as if the thousands of years of feeling fear in the face of nature could not go away – we had to find something at which to direct our anxiety, no matter how small or improbable
Robert Greene on Fear (The 50th Law)
(Source: avisualstreamofconsciousness)
So you think you’re free? Think again. I still want to believe that you can achieve happiness w/ your individuality but admit it, the world is suffocating and the rules that govern it.
“The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.”
(Source: kadawesome)
Altruism means that we should not be exclusively preoccupied with our own welfare. This does not imply that one should become a martyr!
14th Dalai Lama (via pulcherrima-est-vitae)
(Source: light-the-fire-within)
But still praying that someday, you will be. :)
You are the best thing that’s never been mine.
♥
