Laura Evans
@laura
The key to a successful life is to embrace reality. Constructed worlds are a form of kryptonite – draining us of our life force and leaving us addicted to jam instead of fruit. Does anyone else feel similarly? https://notes.lauraevans.io/permanent/Prefer+reality+to+constructed+worlds
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Adam
@adamaziz
I understand what you're trying to say, but I think it's too harsh an assessment and would benefit from a more balanced perspective. The comparison to kryptonite is overly cynical in my view, and I don't think the jam-fruit metaphor you're making is doing what you want it to.
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Adam
@adamaziz
If I go to the park right now and sit down to read Romeo and Juliet, is that somehow deleterious, because I'm not the one falling in love and experiencing the turmoil in reality? Their world is constructed/fictional, yet I see immersing myself in it as enriching, not draining.
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Laura Evans
@laura
To be more accurate, you’re right, I should soften the language, but in an era of increasingly engrossing television, somehow the sharper language feels helpful? David Foster Wallace’s concept of “the entertainment” feels cautionary here.
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Laura Evans
@laura
I appreciate the feedback. That’s fair re: balance — truth resides in paradox. And re: books, I hear you. I derive an unreasonable joy from the classics, but Paul Graham offers a nice counterpoint in the notion that reading virtuous books is not always a virtuous endeavor: http://www.paulgraham.com/island.html
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