February 3

Quote of the Day

Deep experience is never peaceful.

Henry James

One of the first things you learn in critical thinking is to be on the watch for absolutes. Never, nothing, always, all. A red light should go off in your head and a re-read should follow.

Thus, here we go.

At first read, yes, "deep experience is never peaceful" seems like a solid statement that somehow fits into this little space in our lives where love is magical and blind, sadness is overpowering and a sea of endless darkness and despair, anger takes over our every waking moment and burns like hell's fiery pits. It all sounds - and even feels - so familiar, I'm almost nodding my head. But the familiarity is more Hollywood-originated than something I know from experience.

Really, at least in my life so far, love - the true, deep, all bearing love that I hope to have for the rest of my life - is pretty peaceful. It consists of conversations, negotiations, compromises, laying quietly in the other person's presence, feeling a sense of calm at home, and loving every moment of a discussion with my best friends or my mother. Sadness, while at times almost unbearable, often resembles confusion - a much more day-to-day feeling - and while anger sounds quite extreme, I am yet to experience an unforgivable, thunderous, all-consuming annoyance. Because that's what anger often is, annoyance, aggravation, frustration. Yet we tend to make it so much more. Considering some of the other deepest emotions I've ever experienced, honor, reassurance, and trust exude calmness.

Most of all, though, I disagree with this quote in my belief that the deepest, most satisfying, most life-altering experience is the sense of calm. A peaceful heart. A satisfied soul. And the matter of fact is that people who live with a peace of mind are the only ones truly experiencing all those other emotions that we so love to explore and rave about.