Kerouac and St. Paul

As you might have guessed, it's important NOT to live a contemplative life. It's too depressing. Okay, a little contemplation is fine, but let's not get carried away.

The importance is doing. Let others contemplate your actions. As Jack Kerouac wrote in his novel "On The Road":

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to

talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never

yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow

roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see

the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"

Frankly, such enthusiasm gives me a stomach ache, so let's not get too carried away with action either. And remember, roman candles are illegal without a permit.

Since I try to write about art--not religion--this next quote is out of place, but I think it is worthy of a bit of shallow contemplation. Please don't go beyond two minutes on this.

The quote is from St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians. By the way, I don't know his last name, so "St. Paul" will suffice. But to paraphrase a line from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail": Who made him a saint? I didn't vote for him.

Still, his letter to the Philippians, sent when postage was only 2 cents, is kinda artsy:

Whatever is true,

whatever is honorable,

whatever is just,

whatever is pure,

whatever is gracious,

if there is any excellence,

if there is anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.

Sorry I couldn't include a photo of the two guys--but their estates insisted I only use non-downloadable photos--and I couldn't find any.