you're a beautiful genius
One of the very few websites that I subscribe to is Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology. Not because I put a lot of stock in astrology - not the predictive kind, anyway. But Rob's spin is not like anything you've likely read before. His philosophy:
"Evil is boring. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. Joy is fascinating. Love is an act of heroic genius. Pleasure is our birthright."
Here's a segment from an interview with Rob by Glen Starkey of the San Luis Obispo New Times (excerpted from Rob Brezsny's weekly newsletter):
GLEN STARKEY: As I read it, your book is about training oneself to see the world through optimistic eyes, to not dwell on the occasional bad thing that happens and instead focus on all the things that go right, every day, all the time. What led you to this idea?
ROB BREZSNY: Let me comment on the first statement. It's true that I urge people not to dwell on the occasional bad thing that happens. However, it's important to note that pronoia doesn't ask you to ignore or suppress your problems. On the contrary, just as pronoiacs retrain themselves to notice and feel gratitude for all the beauty and largesse in the world, they also retrain themselves to see every problem as a gift that is designed to make them smarter, kinder, and more fully alive.
As for what led me to these ideas: I'm a natural-born rebel; I enjoy identifying the conventional wisdom in every situation, and turning it on its head. Today the conventional wisdom is that everything is falling apart, that the world is a terrible place to live, that bad things predominate. The most taboo possibility of all is the idea that the world is full of beauty and that life is on our side. I gravitate toward that perspective because everything in my life has confirmed it and because my job is to do everything I can to overthrow the status quo.
Some may find his ideas naive or flaky. I find them brave and challenging - perhaps because I struggle to see the good in the world, but want to believe in the best. You can make up your mind for yourself by visiting his website here.
"Evil is boring. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. Joy is fascinating. Love is an act of heroic genius. Pleasure is our birthright."
Here's a segment from an interview with Rob by Glen Starkey of the San Luis Obispo New Times (excerpted from Rob Brezsny's weekly newsletter):
GLEN STARKEY: As I read it, your book is about training oneself to see the world through optimistic eyes, to not dwell on the occasional bad thing that happens and instead focus on all the things that go right, every day, all the time. What led you to this idea?
ROB BREZSNY: Let me comment on the first statement. It's true that I urge people not to dwell on the occasional bad thing that happens. However, it's important to note that pronoia doesn't ask you to ignore or suppress your problems. On the contrary, just as pronoiacs retrain themselves to notice and feel gratitude for all the beauty and largesse in the world, they also retrain themselves to see every problem as a gift that is designed to make them smarter, kinder, and more fully alive.
As for what led me to these ideas: I'm a natural-born rebel; I enjoy identifying the conventional wisdom in every situation, and turning it on its head. Today the conventional wisdom is that everything is falling apart, that the world is a terrible place to live, that bad things predominate. The most taboo possibility of all is the idea that the world is full of beauty and that life is on our side. I gravitate toward that perspective because everything in my life has confirmed it and because my job is to do everything I can to overthrow the status quo.
Some may find his ideas naive or flaky. I find them brave and challenging - perhaps because I struggle to see the good in the world, but want to believe in the best. You can make up your mind for yourself by visiting his website here.
posted by Mike Willis @ 10:19 PM
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