Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Wintry January

On Come to Think of It, Chesterton talked about about a sentence he wrote for a magazine. It went like this,
"He talked a great deal about himself because he was not an egoist."
The printed version was sensibly edited (without his knowing) to be
"He talked a great deal about himself because he was an egoist."
....to which we bow our heads in unison. This whole blogging thing is an obstensible example of such self-baring behavior, don't you agree?

On the following paragraph or so in the book chapter, Chesterton came up with an example of a true egoist.
The worst examples of the egoistic type are silent and watchful, and wait until they can say something which (as they think, and as others may possibly think) nobody could have said but themselves. But even when they do talk at large, it is not in the ordinary sense about themselves. They are much more likely to talk about a large number of different things, to show how wise and widely cultivated they are.
I love Chesterton for his penchant on opening-your-eyes-widening-your-perspective. Furthermore, it kinda slapped me in the face, as I thought I sometime perfectly fit into the description. But then, he continued,
Above all, the true egoist can generally be detected by this diabolic mark: that he is not only willing to talk on any subject, but on any side of any subject. He has no creed, no cause, no conception of truch which he thinks more important that himself.
A big sigh of relief on my part, especially after a further elaboration of the subject,
He is willing to talk like a Turk to show that he has travelled in Turkey; he is willing to talk like a Buddhist to show that he has studied Buddhism. But he will not forget himself in fighting for the Turks; he will not sacrifice himself to Buddhism like a Christian sacrificing himself to Christianity. In all his varied travels he has discovered all wonders except one most wonderful thing--something bigger than himself.
.
.
.
Now, to the egoist the whole pleasure is in the experiences, because they are egoistic experiences. But, in all subtle and deep-seated cases, the more he enjoys them as egoistic experiences, the less he is likely merely to narrate them in an egoistic way.
So, there, a good reading in bed on this wintry January night. Hope you enjoy Chesterton as much as I do. Not in a egoistic way, of course. He he he.

***
gosh it's cold winter bleak here
rain + freezing temperature = sleet

ha ha...
kasian deh lo

I know...University is officially closed..but here I am at the lab

buset
hati2 ada yg jalan2 di
hallway :P

hahahahahahhahaha

***
lies?
gosh...and you didn't say a word to her afterward?

many times
I don't think it register to her mind the issues is
Cogito ergo sum

what issue?

that i exist.

well..why are you still with her then?

stubborn loyalty ?
dumb ?

afraid that you won't find someone else?

maybe subconcouisly, yes

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

who is the person with the black ink? Ooohhh I just wish that school will just be cancelled for the whole week.

-ny-

Anonymous said...

IT'S FRIGGIN SNOWING IN DALLAS WOOHOOOOOOO

didididinginnnnnnn