CxD #107
David Bowie's books; Insensibility; Character vs. Black Holes
“To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity; the next is, to strive, and deserve to conquer; but he whose life has passed without a contest, and who can boast neither success nor merit, can survey himself only as a useless filler of existence; and if he is content with his own character, must owe his satisfaction to insensibility.” ~Samuel Johnson
“This isn’t the story of David Bowie’s life. But it is a look at the tools he used to navigate his life, not to mention a shot in the arm for the unfashionable theory, one I’ve always liked, that reading books makes you a better person. All biography junkies know how unusual it is for successful artists also to be successful human beings. After Bowie’s death, grieving fans drew comfort from the fact that hardly anyone seemed to have a bad word to say about him. On the contrary, we hear again and again how loyal and loving he was, how kind, compassionate, wise, and funny.
How did David Jones turn out this way, despite the venality of the music industry, the derailing potential of his addictions, and his grand, even ruthless ambition to become the biggest star possible? It could be you’re holding the answer in your hands.”
From the introduction to Bowie’s Bookshelf: The Hundred Books that Changed Bowie’s Life.
I’m now on page 259 of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time, the section about black holes and the end of time. Yikes!
Stephen Hawking is the physicist who is most directly responsible for what we know about these rather dark and humorless things. He’s also been a handicapped person for most of his life. But!
Stephen Hawking has been able to accomplish remarkable things while working under extraordinary handicaps, and the reason is basically straightforward: He refuses to compromise in any way. He’s not going to cut down his travel schedule, or eat at the wrong restaurant, or drink a lesser quality of tea, or curtail his wicked sense of humor, or think less ambitiously about the inner workings of the universe, merely because he is confined to a wheelchair. And that strength of character pushes him scientifically, as well as getting him through life. p. 260
If you were severely handicapped today, what would happen to your character do you think?
Bonus Question: What project are you now involved in that you could rightly label as a “Character Building Exercise?” Leave your reply in the comments section.