A Pause

I went to Big Sur this weekend and experienced first hand the utter beauty of nature. It made me think back to our lecture about Jack Kerouac's novel, Big Sur and, during my hike, I felt the relative peace and freedom Kerouac writes about. It was a beautiful sight to see; The fog over the mountains, the dark grey ocean transforming into clear blue water as the sun came out. I became entranced, lost in the allure of nature. Yet, upon return to civilization, I became aware of how this relative peace is temporary, as sooner or later, I had to return to what we have come to call "real life."

Something else I thought about was one of his quotes. Kerouac wrote, "the more ups and downs, the more joy I feel. The greater the fear, the greater the happiness I feel." I find this relative to what we, as human beings have to experience everyday. It's true that the best way to feel truly alive, is when there is a risk of death. It's ironic but it makes sense. I don;t believe that we enjoy life as much as we could and should. it might be because we tend to forget how lucky we are or because we get really busy or maybe because all the downs in our lives mask the ups. whatever it is, going to Big Sur was a respite and a reminder of what beauty we live with and what life could be if we just paused and went on a journey with friends.