Yesterday I saw a younger man excited about a new truck he bought; he wanted it-he bought it. This same young man had trouble paying his taxes this year; he paid them late after much scrapping together of funds and worry.
I wonder if my overwhelming sensibility waters down my passion. (And I am not talking sex here). I am talking about passion as in desires• ( from the dictionary-an intense desire or enthusiasm for something : the English have a passion for gardens.)
Can you be too sensible to be passionate? Can you be so ruled by passion that you can't act sensibly? Which rules you? We're often pushing moderation here--can you be moderately passionate?
Yes, you can be sensible and/or you can be passionate. On the other hand, you may be neither sensible or passionate. Or the other way around. You get it. These two terms are not mutually inclusive.
"Can you be too sensible to be passionate"? Sure. Can you really be passionate about a Chevrolet Aveo? Now, a Corvette is another story.
"Can you be so ruled by passion that you can't act sensibly"? Yes indeed, when you listen to the little head, you can get yourself into trouble.
"Which rules you"? I am a hybrid of both. I am passionate about the very few things that I really love but very sensible about most matters.
I believe that passion and joy are intertwined, and that one without the other is is an incomplete mutantation.
I believe that passion and sensibility are mutually exclusive terms, and when we start trying to marry them, it's a shotgun wedding and won't last, because the child of this union is not common sense but joylessness.
Bummer.
OH, and moderate passion is a contradiction in terms. Like temperate cruelty.
Go for the passion. Life's too short to drink bad wine, drive prudently or love cautiously.
they can go together. I remember lusting after a Remington 510 target master that was in Mr Booker's butcher shop window.(small town..had to have more that one thing going on hence butcher shop/firearms sales) I was working at an after school job down the street at Sullivan electric wire brushing Mr Sullivan's trucks down to white metal. during my breaks I would go fondle the 510..I can still remember how that rile SMELLED. the day came when I had the 24 bucks and it was mine! Mr booker payed me for rabbits and squirrels for the next several years and said it was the best sale he ever made.
I agree with Marti that "moderate passion is a contradiction in terms. Like temperate cruelty."
My problem is that I have a very, very strong practical streak. I'm a first born daughter--we tend to be painfully responsible. You want something done--right, and on time? Just ask me to do it. I'm dependable. I do what one "is supposed to do." I'm not boring, but do I have PASSION in my life? No, not often--passion requires a recklessness that scares me. Do I want it? Yes, but I've so far been unwilling to pay the price, to take the risk.
Marti says: "Go for the passion. Life's too short to drink bad wine, drive prudently or love cautiously." Ah, but Marti--I love life! I agree on the wine issue, but the latter two can lead to premature death, and I'm just not ready to risk that.
One of my pet peeves is when people say "no one on their death bed ever wished they'd spent more time at the office" or "live each day as though it's your last." What the Hell is the moral of those sayings? We shouldn't work? Who needs a home, a car, a vacation, good wine? These things, which I enjoy, require WORK.
Answers first, explication to follow 1. Can you be sensible and passionate? With one exception, not at the same time.
2. Can you be too sensible to be passionate? Yes.
3. Can you be so ruled by passion that you can't act sensibly? Yes.
4. Which rules you? Passion.
5. We're often pushing moderation here--can you be moderately passionate? Depends on how “passionate” is defined.
BTW (and setting the stage for explications to come), what is being called “sensible” here is what Plato and Aristotle discuss under the rubric “(practical) reason”. So, your question is the same as their question about the actual versus “proper” relation between reason and passion.
Well, Marti, I'd have to say I'm pretty happy. I really enjoy food and wine, friends and family, reading and learning, music and theatre, travel, skiing, and gardening (among other things!). These things bring me a great deal of happiness and sometimes even "joy." Passion seems to me to be a "throw caution to the wind, and who cares what happens" proposition. But, I do care "what happens;" I do care about consequences. I don't want to screw up my life, and look back with regret. So, if there was "minimal risk passion" I'd embrace it; as it is, I'll stay on the sidelines, for now. (But, I really enjoy watching those of you who live large do so, and sometimes crash and burn. I had a younger brother whose life's purpose seemed to be to serve as a cautionary tale for the rest of us; but damn he lived a wild life!)
