I no longer make such posts on this blog. I keep them on another undisclosed location. ;-)
But I had been rummaging through some marked sections from Hermann Hesse‘s The Glassbead Game from my previous reading of it and I came across a paragraph that I somehow totally “missed” last time. Something I consider highly worthy of sharing.
“What you call passion is not a spiritual force, but friction between the soul and the outside world. Where passion dominates, that does not signify the presence of greater desire and ambition, but rather the misdirection of these qualities toward an isolated and false goal, with a consequent tension and sultriness in the atmosphere. Those who direct the maximum force of their desires toward the center, toward true being, toward perfection, seem quieter than the passionate souls because the flame of their fervor cannot always be seen. In argument, for example, they will not shout or wave their arms. But, I assure you, they are nevertheless, burning with subdued fires.”
— Hermann Hesse (The Glass Bead Game, Das Glasperlenspiel, 1943)
I love that! Friction… I was really into Hermann Hesse when I was in high school/early college. I should revisit him. Am I familiar with this “undisclosed location” of which you speak??
Passion is definately a friction with outside world.The proof is the people who want to do something different are always misunderstood by the society.