a bit of a philosophically induced admission

While most people are taking finals and throwing in the towel after another semester accomplished, I am jumping feet first into Spring term here at the good ole Y. Midterms are next week (already?!) and JL so sweetly drives me up to campus four days a week so I can immerse myself in American History and Contemporary Art.  Which brings me to my point:

Today in Contemporary, Mark brought up the work of Giacometti, one of my favorite sculptors of all time.  As a child I remember being introduced to one of his elongated figures and since then I've always been a bit mesmerized by the man behind the art.  

Now, to me, the miserable thing about Contemporary is that everything is based on theories and ideals, usually written by philosophers and critics in the field. But today as we ripped apart a commentary by Sartre, a quote from Giacometti about his fears of the infinite struck me: "In space, there is too much." 

I started to think to myself, 'What am I terrified of? What horrifies me?' There are dozens of little silly things, like our living room in the middle of the night.  I, like any decent human being, shudder at images of genocide that appear in my daily newspaper. I have a paralyzing fear of Hilary Clinton. No joke. 

The dread that I carry around with me everyday, however, is nothing as easily forgotten as selfish politicians. I am petrified with concern that the physical pain that I experience everyday will come to reign over my life: my relationship with JL, the interactions that I have with friends and neighbors. It is so much easier to play the victim than to push past pain.  

As a result, I have added to our Rule for Happy Living:  #8 Mind over body.