Sunday, July 6, 2014

The wisdom of Oliver Sacks


"I do not think of old age as an ever grimmer time that one must somehow endure and make the best of, 
         but as a time of leisure and freedom, 
                 freed from the factitious urgencies of earlier days, 
free to explore whatever I wish, 
      and to bind the thoughts and feelings of a lifetime together."

American-British neurologist and writer


I feel the energy of this quote from Sacks' piece, "The Joy of Old Age," in the New York Times on July 6, 2013, read it here 

Sacks, who turned 80 last year, of course was aware that his life “is almost over,” and he didn’t shrink from acknowledging the physical and health realities that alter life as we get older.

I am drawn to his outlook because it elevates one’s willingness to make a life, even make a new life, at whatever age.

Sacks offers one recipe for giving full voice to “the thoughts and feelings of a lifetime.”



I think Walt Whitman heard the same drummer:

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself . . .”









Kurt Vonnegut's homework assignment

Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2014 All rights reserved.


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