A Case for letting the force be with you

‘It was simply a desire to travel; but it had presented itself as nothing less than a seizure, with intensely passionate and indeed hallucinatory force, turning his craving into vision.’ -Thomas Mann

 

Do you remember the last time you gave into your feelings and followed an arbitrary sensation, despite your rational self instructing you otherwise?

The above quote is taken from Thomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice; it is the moment when the normally level-headed protagonist is suddenly gripped by epiphany, by ‘an extraordinary expansion of his inner self.’ The events that follow are life changing to the extreme.

Many tales and stories begin with a similar resignation to a seemingly random desire; and in these tales the characters are always rewarded with excitement, adventure, and new experiences. The authors of these tales abide by the age-old mantra: fortune favours the brave.

Of course, we all have responsibilities and constraints; we cannot simply follow each and every one of our whims across the world. But imagine how less exhilarating life would be without that excitable little voice of passion daring us to do something new, challenging us to be spontaneous. Imagine where you’d be right now if you’d never surrendered to it; imagine the experiences that you’d have missed out on. The ‘intensely passionate and hallucinatory force’ asks for a lot, but it always rewards too.

 

W.K. 2015