“Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation– the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the "impossible," come true.”
― The Crack-UpFolk #1: Absolutely. For sure. Right on F. Scott. Let me give it a go:
Idea Number 1: "I live in a gorgeous Paradise. Blue Sky, beautiful lakefront, a kind, generous, progressive bubble neighborhood."
Idea Number 2: "I live in Hell, a dysfunctional Fascist Dystopia of greed, corruption, epic stupidity, bad blood, bad actors & bad actions. My fellow humans are an ugly, gnarly, untrustworthy lot."
So what's the way forward? Paradise or Hell? Good Times vs. Bad Times. Hopeful vs. Hopeless. Let those ideas battle each other. I decide to carry on with a sunny glow, and a fierce "fuck those Evil-Doers" Spirit. Damn the torpedoes...
