So I just recently read 1Q84 by Murakami. Interesting book
though not one of his best. It is a
1000+ book based on his short story “On Meeting my 100% Woman One Fine April Morning.
” In that story a man passes his “100% woman.” He doesn’t understand why she
is, just that she is. He tells his
friend about it and thinks about what he should have said to her.
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| Was a long book haha |
He wanted to tell her a story of two children who were 100%
man and women for each other, but doubted life could be that easy, so as a test
they went their separate ways to see if they would meet each other later. Each get a freaky cold that makes them lose
their memories, and when they pass each other on the street again they
recognize each other as their 100% man and women but do not respond on that
feeling and keep walking.
After reading 1Q84, one line in the short story still bugs
me. When the two children doubt that
life can be easy, the story says, “However, a tiny, really tiny, doubt drifted
across their hearts; could it really be all right for a dream to come
completely true this simply?” As a reader I felt that if they knew, then why do
they have this doubt, but now it makes more sense.
I always question if a feeling I have is my own or something
that all humans feel, but usually I don’t know.
Maybe doubting happiness is something all of us feel. People always say life is hard but you can
get great joy from it, but what if we reject that joy? That self-doubt destroys any hope for
happiness if you don’t believe you deserve it.
I’m not going to be up here saying “everybody deserves
happiness” because I have not really given much thought into the philosophy of
happiness. If anybody has any good ideas
about it please tell me. Something I do
understand is how easy it is to reject happiness and to fill that space with
negative thoughts and doubts. Their
situation in the story was so clear cut, yet they still rejected
happiness. Hopefully there is something
is us that can prevent that and find happiness.
Here is a link to the short story if anybody wants to read it. 6 pages you can handle it.
I kind of want to read this book, haha. I haven't given much thought to the philosophy of happiness either, but I do agree with you in that happiness can be very easily rejected. In the same sense, it can be very easily faked, which you of all people should know and understand. Happiness just depends on a person's interpretations, I guess. There are some who believe everyone should be happy and others who don't share that view, but neither one is necessarily wrong if I think about it like that. Humans are strange though. There are those of us who are constantly seeking happiness as though we're searching for something lost. I don't think it's like that. Maybe I'm just saying this all in the spur of the moment, but this is my initial reaction and response...so yeah.
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