My title is borrowed from the 1768 poem Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College by Thomas Gray (1716-1771). I suppose those words express what I’ve been feeling for some time. I’ve been entering the doubt–fear phase of our (eternal) cycle of Doubt, Fear, Hope & Love.
This poem is famous for its last two lines of its final verse. I have added the third-last line for context:
Thought would destroy their paradise.
Excerpt of the final verse of Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1768)
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
‘Tis folly to be wise.
Perhaps, I’m overthinking the situation – once again (eg, my 2020 blog). I suppose I’m prone to overthinking. Indeed, thought can destroy your paradise. Sorrow acts like a cleansing though. Soon, I will come to terms with the situation, and accept that it is what it is, and nothing more than that.
I suppose any paradise is based on its potential while any potential is based on its expectations. Usually, reality has a habit of disappointing the “owner” of such expectations. Moreover, my situation might be a simple case of the one who travels too fast, will travel alone (eg, example)
In 1890, William James (1842-1910) wrote his book The Principles of Psychology. His general law of perception is: “Whilst part of what we perceive comes through our senses from the object before us, another part (and it may be the larger part) always comes out of our own mind.” (source-1, source-2)
“He further noted that “each of us literally chooses, by his ways of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.” It’s not that we passively experience reality so much as we actively construct it. We make choices in what we notice, dwell on, evaluate, and interpret.” (source)
I suppose my overthinking is creating a perception of reality which is either correct, premature, or just wrong.
Hence, the quote by Kahlil Gibran below.
“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”
A quote by Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), a Lebanese-American writer and poet
A Dutch equivalent – and “explanation” – of the Kahlil Gibran quote above is as follows:
Een mens lijdt dikwijls ’t meest
Source-1, source-2
Door ’t lijden dat hij vreest
Doch dat nooit op komt dagen.
Zo heeft hij meer te dragen
Dan God te dragen geeft.
A person often suffers the most
from the suffering that he fears
but which will never transpire.
Hence, he suffers more
than God will make him carry.
Paradise (2011) by Coldplay
band, lyrics, video, Wiki-band, Wiki-song
[Pre-Chorus]
Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear, a waterfall
In the night, the stormy night, she’d close her eyes
In the night, the stormy night, away she’d fly
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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