I remember this 1 episode of Sex and the City where Carrie Bradshaw, the protagonist, was recalling the days when she first moved to New York. She said that she was so poor but she would buy Vogue magazine instead of food purely because it nourished her more.
That’s how I feel too. I may be poor. I may be hungry. But when I see a book that I want to read – that will be my meal. Today’s book that did that to me was: Emotional Equations by Chip Conley.
I’ve liked language in equation form ever since I read Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, where she wrote: “Pain + Distance can = Entertainment.” Don’t you just love that language is essentially a mathematical formula that conveys the subjective stuff comprised of emotions? I do.
Here is her equation in context:
“Oh, there was a certain pleasure. And don’t ever underestimate people, don’t ever underestimate the pleasure they receive from viewing pain that is not their own, from delivering bad news, watching bombs fall on television, from listening to stifled sobs from the other end of a telephone line. Pain by itself is just Pain. But Pain + Distance can = entertainment, voyeurism, human interest, cinéma vérité, a good belly chuckle, a sympathetic smile, a raised eyebrow, disguised contempt.”
See, all that writing but the 1 line containing the equation – it sums it up. The rest is fluff, poetry, pretty writing. Beautiful it may be BUT it is not the ESSENCE.
Einstein quotes:
When he was offered the presidency of Israel he declined because:
“Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity.”
“Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.”
And 1 last Einstein formula before we go on formula overload in my next post.
“If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.”
And my favorite formula type statement said by Hippocrates:
“Let thy food be thy medicine.”
The last 2 sentence equations fused in my mind to lead me to my own creation.
“Let thy work be thy play.”
And let thy play be meaningful.
