How come smart guys are bummed out so much? I mean, what’s the point in being smart if you can’t figure out a way to be happy? Not much use being intelligent if all it does is turn you into a well-spoken miserable whiner.

This came to my attention recently as I was scouring the internet for more goodies for my quote page. Wanted some Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett, to plump up our modern playwrights selection. Generally I try to stick with uplifting messages, but good luck with those guys.

Death and misery are pretty much their hobbies. Not that they aren’t great artists, superb humans, and a blessing to our race, but boy are they sad. Seems like a lot of modern artists and brilliant philosophical types are like that, except for Einstein and maybe a couple others I ain’t run across yet.

As far as I can tell, the common thread with all these sad smart guys is that they’re atheists. Hard to blame them, if their only other option is religion, since all great religions preach exactly the same message: “Us good, them bad”. Don’t take a genius to figure out that’s a bunch of hooey.

All I know is, anybody contemplating becoming a materialist needs to get ready to be bummed out, at least if you’re smart. Dumb materialists may be happy, though.

Cheerio!

LWIII