Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.
-Chinese Proverb
For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
-Vincent Van Gogh
Vita somnium breve (life is a short dream).
-Old Roman saying
On the other hand, the perfect control of emotion, however desirable from one point of view, would be a questionable accomplishment, for it would deprive social intercourse of all variety, colour, warmth, and charm.
-C.G. Jung, The Undiscovered Self (1957)
No more
No more
I ain’t gonna do it no more
It used to be a big deal
But, I ain’t gonna do it
If it ain’t real
Big money
Big plans
You stand with a ticket in your hand
You don’t play you can’t win
But, I ain’t gonna do it
‘Til I feel it again
When I see that sun go down
My mind begins to clear
Sure was a hard time
It sure was a hard time my dear
No more
No more
I ain’t gonna do it no more
It used to be a big deal
But, I ain’t gonna do it
If it ain’t real
No, I ain’t gonna do it
If it ain’t real
-Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, “No More,” Echo (1999)
Consciousness is a very recent acquisition and as such is still in an “experimental state” — frail, menaced by specific dangers, and easily injured. As a matter fact, one of the most common mental derangements among primitives consists in the “loss of the soul,” which, as the term indicates, means a noticeable dissociation of consciousness. …
What we observe in the seemingly remote sphere of the primitive mind has by no means vanished in our advanced civilization. Only too often, as I have said, the right hand does not know what the left is doing, and in a state of violent affect one frequently forgets who one is, so that people can ask: “What the devil has gotten into you?” We are possessed and altered by our moods, we can suddenly be unreasonable, or important facts unaccountably vanish from our memory. We talk about being able to “control ourselves,” but self-control is a rare and remarkable virtue. If you ask your friends or relatives they may be able to tell you things about yourself of which you have no knowledge. One almost always forgets or omits to apply to oneself the criticism that one hands out so freely to others, fascinated by the mote in one’s brother’s eye.
-C.G. Jung, The Undiscovered Self (1957)
I don’t know where I’m going
But I sure know where I’ve been
Hanging on the promises
And songs of yesterday
And I’ve made up my mind,
I ain’t wasting no more time
Here I go again
Here I go again
Though I keep searching for an answer,
I never seem to find what I’m looking for
Oh, Lord, I pray
You give me strength to carry on
‘Cause I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
And here I go again on my own
Goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known.
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
I’ve made up my mind
I ain’t wasting no more time
-Whitesnake, “Here I Go Again,” Whitesnake (1987)