How to Grow Old
But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignorable. The best way to overcome it ¨C so at least it seems to me ¨C is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river ¨C small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual beings. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will be not unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.
Reflections on My Eightieth Birthday
I have lived in the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken.
- Re: Words of Russellposted on 03/25/2005
From "The Conquest of Happiness"? one of my most favorite books.
For a man, growing old means dating a even younger girl.
- posted on 03/27/2005
No, from The Portraits of Memory and Other Essays. A great book. Russell talked about his friendships with the other prominent figures in literature, philosophy and science of his contemporary time in the U.K.. Wonderful insights with great humor, as the trademark of Russell's casual writing. Three years ago I checked this book out from a community library and found out the last time it was checked out was in 1965. Talk about American's reading habit.
The Conquest of Happiness is my favorite book too. I bought it about same time and read it twice as far as I remember.
- posted on 04/20/2005
If, on the other hand, you have as part of the habitual furniture of your mind the past ages of man, his slow and partial emergence out of barbarism, and the brevity of his total existence in comparison with astronomical epochs - if, I say, such thoughts have molded your habitual feelings, you will realize that the momentary battle upon which you are engaged cannot be of such importance as to risk a backward step towards the darkness out of which we have been slowly emerging. Nay, more, if you suffer defeat in your immediate objective, you will be sustained by the same sense of its momentariness that made you unwilling to adopt degrading weapons. You will have, beyond your immediate activities, purposes that are distant and slowly unfolding, in which you are not an isolated individual but one of the great army of those who have led mankind towards a civilized existence. If you have attained to this outlook, a certain deep happiness will never leave you, whatever your personal fate may be. Life will become a communion with the great of all ages, and personal death no more than a negligible incident.
A man who has once perceived, however temporarily and however briefly, what makes greatness of soul, can no longer be happy if he allows himself to be petty, self-seeking, troubled by trivial misfortunes, dreading what fate may have in store for him. The man capable of greatness of soul will open wide the windows of his mind, letting the winds blow freely upon it from every portion of the universe.
- The Conquest of Happiness, Chapter 15: Impersonal Interests - Re: Words of Russellposted on 04/21/2005
I REMEMBER IT WAS IN BOOK 3 OF "NEW CONCEPT ENGLISH".
REALLY GOOD BOOK NOT ONLY FOR ENGLISH STUDY BUT ALSO FOR THE SELECTED TEXTS.
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