4 joys
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Someone asked me: "What joy is worth suffering for in life?" Here's what I wrote back: Perhaps one answer is the joy of seeing a wish come true. It's doubly joyful if it’s the wish of someone you love, and you knew they wished it, and you got to see their wish come true. Other answers… The joy of seeing things come full circle. Ayn Rand wrote the 1,000+ page novel The Fountainhead partly as a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright, whom she admired and respected as a heroic figure of her time. He agreed to meet her as she was researching it, and she got his critique while drafting it. She sent him a copy from the first pressing. He didn't respond for 5 years. But after 5 years, he sent her a wonderful letter that began, “I've read every word of The Fountainhead” and said Ayn was contributing to "our salvation as a people.” An experience like that is worth the pain of waiting. The joy of exercising your capacities. My business partner Bill says enjoyment is all about the activities in which you are engaged—exercising your capacities to do XYZ, that’s the origin of enjoyment. Exercising your capacity to see, hear, touch, analyze. And deeper enjoyment can come from more complex activities, such as playing an instrument or engaging in a debate. It's worth at least some amount of suffering to be able to have a chance at that enjoyment. The joy of giving others the sight of achievement. I feel that achievement in itself can be empty, somehow. But when your achievement is a beacon for others, when it inspires them to reach for their own greatness, when you see them light up because your achievement reminds them that such a thing is possible in reality—that's another joy worth suffering for. 4 joys ~
Different ones come to mind for you, I imagine. I'd be curious to hear yours :) Ellen P.S. This conversation probably wouldn't have happened without Muse By Mail! |
Ellen Fishbein ~ ALTAMIRA.STUDIO
There are perks to having a philosopher on your team. My co-founder Bill Jaworski is a philosopher. It’s fun to work with him because he’ll say something super insightful, off the cuff, and then I won’t be able to stop thinking about it. Last week, he drew this spellbinding analogy between writing a great book and building the Parthenon: “The Parthenon is supposed to look perfectly symmetrical, the same in all dimensions. But as you approach the Parthenon, the two outer columns are not framed...
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I've never made a Bucket List before. It seemed too daunting. But this weekend, it occurred to me that I already have a Bucket List in my mind. It doesn't reach every possible corner of existence—but it does cover my big-picture hopes for Altamira Studio. I wanted to share this with you. If you make one for yourself, I'd love to see it. Here's my Bucket List -- goals within the realm of writing & publishing. 1) Achieve a level of product-market fit that's as good as the one in the Simon &...