“It seems to me that often in life, if you want something badly, you don’t get it by pursuing it directly. If you’re an aspiring musician and you want musical creativity, you don’t get there by just going out and being creative all the time. It’s actually the opposite. You get there by pursuing discipline, hour after hour of practice and one day, the creativity flows. If you want love, you don’t get there by pursuing it directly. There’s a name for people who do that.. stalkers. If you want happiness — if you pursue it directly, you end up an addict, or a hedonist, or a glutton or a dilettante. Don’t do that. Pursue generosity, pursue wisdom, pursue honor, pursue an idea that’s bigger than you. And one day, happiness and/or love, will tap you gently on the shoulder and say, “I’m here.” Those of us in the business of getting people’s attention are in danger of being stalkers, of pursuing attention at any cost by any means, fair or foul. What if instead, we pursued laughter, ingenuity, and beauty, radical openness? If we do, we will be astounded at the amount of attention that will flow our way.”
— Chris Anderson
Curator, TED Conferences
I should definitely try to live by this. I think I try sometimes, but it's certainly nice to be reminded every now and then.
This is a beautiful sentiment (as well as wonderfully worded). I hope I can learn to live like this, too.
ReplyDeleteIt really is eloquent, isn't it? I want to put these words in a place I'll often look.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that hedonism has become a bad quality. There's nothing wrong with seeking pleasure for yourself, as long as you don't place others in harms way. (Because in the end, we all should want pleasure, not pain.) I suppose that might be too utilitarian, however.
ReplyDeleteIn the first sentence of that quote, he says "often in life..." I think it'd be good to keep both outlooks in mind. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and I'd say that applies to each of these ideas just as well as it does anything else.
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