Happy "We are great fools. "He has spent his life in idleness," we say; " I have done nothing today." What, have you not lived? That is not only the fundamental but the most illustrious of your occupations. "If I had been placed in a position to manage great affairs, I would have shown what I could do." Have you been able to think out and manage your own life? You have done the greatest task of all. To show and exploit her resources Nature has no need of fortune; she shows herself equally on all levels and behind a curtain as well as without one. To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All other things, ruling, hording, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.

It is an absolute perfection and virtually divine to know to know how to enjoy our being lawfully. We seek other conditions because we do not understand the use of our own, and go outside of ourselves because we do not know what it is like inside. Yet there is no use ourmounting on stilts, for on stilts we must still walk on our own legs. And on the loftiest throne in the world we are still sitting on our own behind."-Michel de Montaigne B. 1533

This passage comes from the current book I'm reading A History of Knowledge. The Renaissance chapter is fascinating only in what it represents: Rebirth. Everyday we wish we could be someone different, do something different, we are the masters of ours destinies blah, blah, blah.....but even the greatest of Renaissance men Da Vinci being one, wanted to learn as much as they could, In knowing a little about everything one could philosophise and debate accordingly. Do one thing and Do it well they say, that is the road to success. Do many things in an obsessive manner and you'll loose your palm pilot me thinks. Renaissance men were easily distracted by new topics, hence leaving the past project unfinished. Only a handful walked away with the 'genius' moniker. Maybe because they took the time to know themselves to the best of their abilities and not over analyze it, they just figured it out and moved on to the next topic. An impressive task indeed. I on the other hand have used many excuses, wasted days away just thinking about useless shit. I'm not sure what has triggered this current surge of productivity, my health, my age.....who's to say. But I do know, that I'm tired of excuses, I'm happiest when I'm creating, and there is nothing wrong with being happy....really...not a damn thing wrong with it. It pisses me off to no end that it took so long to figure that out, which really makes me angry, so now I'm not happy, I'm pissed. It's O.K. to be pissed, own your emotions!! wooohooo!!!!!! Sometimes we just loose sight of what we are meant to learn, and sometimes we learn it and want to learn more and that makes me happy. (whew!) So, the above quote I found to be very profound to a degree, just thought I'd share it with you all. And sharing makes me sooooooooo very happy! ;)