Emerson was said to have lived his life as a series of experiments upon the external world, and by every one of which a new power was awakened in his mind.
The words from his celebrated book come to mind:
Leave me in the splendid labyrinth of my perceptions to wander without end.
It’s a standing invitation for the collective sanity of humanity. The philosopher’s forewarning is not to close the laboratory doors too soon, but to keep the spirit of experimentation alive in everything we do. Especially in those moments when overwhelming feelings disgust course through our veins and we want nothing more than to throw up our hands in disgust and say, oh fuck everything, just fuck it all to hell.
That’s when we need the gift of wonderment the most. Because inside of it lay the seed of joy. Real joy. Not candy bar joy, but that sustaining source of power whose blazing spotlight of love pierces our inner gloom and reminds us that life has a brighter side.
Emerson, strangely enough, had an unknown pupil who reflected on the same topic nearly a hundred years later. Camus took up the transcendentalist mantle when he wrote:
One must keep a freshness and a source of joy intact within, loving the daylight that injustice leaves unscathed, and returning to the fray with this light as a trophy.
If we can remember that, these wonders will be brought to our own door.
And we will return to the place within where we are eternally whole.
LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you orient yourself to a sustaining source of power?
* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.
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