Kurt Vonnegut on Finding the MIRACULOUS in the MUNDANE

Amid all the loneliness and despair that now surround us, legendary and prolific author Kurt Vonnegut offers some wise and brilliant advice on why we should go outside into the world to seek out human connections to discover the magic in the seemingly mundane aspects of life.
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Kurt Vonnegut's 2004 lecture where he retells his envelope story: • Kurt Vonnegut Lecture
The excerpt from Vonnegut's interview with Harper's: theody.net/vonnegut.html
#loneliness #miraculous #humanconnection

Пікірлер: 53

  • @tomsortore8301
    @tomsortore830117 күн бұрын

    I would love to have met this amazing man!! Drove a motorcycle from Baltimore to Alaska in 1980. With a tent and some jack Daniel's and some kurt vonnegut. Pure bliss

  • @feverandfret

    @feverandfret

    17 күн бұрын

    That sounds like one amazing trip. I can imagine you learned so much from that.

  • @kelleemerson9510

    @kelleemerson9510

    16 күн бұрын

    Sounds to me like he was awakened to gratitude and you too can do that.

  • @katec7033

    @katec7033

    15 күн бұрын

    Check out Peter Reed’s book called Kurt Vonnegut jr. the first book on Vonnegut’s work. I was lucky enough to know Peter Reed and his wife (family friends) they did say how kind he was. His “religion” was Humanist.

  • @katec7033

    @katec7033

    15 күн бұрын

    They were good friends of Vonnegut.

  • @liberty-matrix
    @liberty-matrix15 күн бұрын

    "The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more but have less, we buy more but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge but less judgment, more experts yet more problems, more medicine but less wellness." ~George Carlin

  • @feverandfret

    @feverandfret

    14 күн бұрын

    Amazing quote. I'd love to use it in future vid. Thank you.

  • @MrGriff305

    @MrGriff305

    14 күн бұрын

    "That's mostly bullshit from a guy who gets attention being negative and cynical." ~Me

  • @thechapelperilous

    @thechapelperilous

    13 күн бұрын

    “One of the more embarrassing items [attributed to me] making the internet/e-mail rounds is a sappy load of shit called “The Paradox of our time.” The main problem I have with it is that as true as some of the expressed sentiments may be, who really gives a shit? Certainly not me. I figured out years ago that the human species is totally fucked and has been for a long time. I also know that the sick, media-consumer culture in America continues to make this so-called problem worse. But the trick, folks, is not to give a fuck. Like me. I really don’t care. I stopped worrying about all this temporal bullshit a long time ago. It’s meaningless. (See the preface of “Brain Droppings (1997).”) Another problem I have with “Paradox” is that the ideas are all expressed in a sort of pseudo-spiritual, New-Age-y, “Gee-whiz-can’t-we-do-better-than-this” tone of voice. It’s not only bad prose and poetry, it’s weak philosophy. I hope I never sound like that." George Carlin.

  • @alexanderwindh4830

    @alexanderwindh4830

    11 күн бұрын

    Wow. Yes

  • @daniel_moretti
    @daniel_moretti11 күн бұрын

    Such an excellent and insightful video! We spend so much time looking for the meaning of life, ignoring that it is right in front of us, right before our eyes. Thank you for that oh so valuable reminder!!

  • @BlueBeeMCMLXI
    @BlueBeeMCMLXI17 күн бұрын

    You go so far for this: The people YOU meet ARE your life.

  • @darrenwendroff3441
    @darrenwendroff344115 күн бұрын

    This is an incredible presentation of Vonnegut's work. I'm going to read him more in the next few months because of your video. Excellent job my friend, look forward to more of your work.

  • @feverandfret

    @feverandfret

    15 күн бұрын

    Thanks so much for the kind words!

  • @wildernesshermit
    @wildernesshermit7 күн бұрын

    Very nice. Many thanks.

  • @KameaMedia
    @KameaMedia16 күн бұрын

    He really did buy one Manilla envelope at a time. I witnessed it at the Post Office when he was in Northampton, -teaching at Smith College for a semester some years back. He held it between thumb and forefinger as he walked up Main Street.

  • @simonagree4070
    @simonagree407017 күн бұрын

    Vonnegut had to say these things to reassure himself because, as an attempted suicide, he was intimately acquainted with despair. Let's get the full picture.

  • @Scott-sx1bf

    @Scott-sx1bf

    9 күн бұрын

    Fwiw, I’d rather hear about the world from someone who traveled it than from someone who read about it.

  • @simonagree4070

    @simonagree4070

    6 күн бұрын

    If anybody else, like Richard DeLaurell who appears to have deleted his comment, is doubtful about my reference to Vonnegut as an "attempted suicide", KV brings the matter up in his book, Fates Worse Than Death, page 181. It's also in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Just clarifiyin'.

  • @stevierayripple
    @stevierayripple15 күн бұрын

    Most people think they "need" SO much meaning in their life,,, they don't .....

  • @flow963
    @flow96316 күн бұрын

    Excellent! Lord, that Kurt and his wit were still here to nourish us 🙏

  • @StateoftheMatrix
    @StateoftheMatrix4 күн бұрын

    An opportunity to experience life: "... and got to meet a cop and tell him about it."

  • @neilsmall1487
    @neilsmall148717 күн бұрын

    ...read his book, Slaughter House Five. His war experience was a cosmic 2 x 4...

  • @rawbinmo
    @rawbinmo15 күн бұрын

    Love this.

  • @justaman33
    @justaman3315 күн бұрын

    Thank you. Cheers

  • @jiggersotoole7823
    @jiggersotoole78237 күн бұрын

    Happiness is an empty house. (it means you have to out to get things) *preferably on foot.

  • @bentrider
    @bentrider16 күн бұрын

    BRILLIANT!!!😊

  • @feverandfret

    @feverandfret

    16 күн бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @malcolmwatt7386
    @malcolmwatt738610 күн бұрын

    Okay. So why did Vonnegut put on this big show out here in BC? When I saw him in Nanaimo Hospital I just stared at him with nothing to say. There he was after having been reported dead and his younger self (an actor) making appearances at Hudsons Bay Mall in Victoria and influencing the small theater group I had established in Victoria. That isn't mundane, that's cruel.

  • @rustyshimstock8653
    @rustyshimstock865318 күн бұрын

    K.V. Indianapolis's favorite son.

  • @jonathanbuyno9461
    @jonathanbuyno94617 күн бұрын

    I am not a social creature. I do not belong to this world.

  • @ericolander8755
    @ericolander875516 күн бұрын

    Sure socializing the malady we are addicted to and the lonely disconnectedness withdrawl symptoms.

  • @conniewhall3109
    @conniewhall310920 күн бұрын

    Butt, if something doesn't smell right? Or smells rotten? "Better OUT than IN.", sez Shrek. Some of the best Self Comforting hax: 1) Belching. Humorous from 3 years old. 2) Farting. Humorous from 3 years & 1 day old. (Gotta give the Belching thing a full day to sink in.) 3) Picking one's nose. We are born with this talent. 4) Picking one's own seat. A must have duty when one goes out in public. You know, like the movie. Just saying. =^..^=

  • @Allen-eq5uf
    @Allen-eq5uf5 күн бұрын

    I need people……to serve me.

  • @haraldtheyounger5504
    @haraldtheyounger550413 күн бұрын

    Don't tell the Climate Change people we're "here to fart around".

  • @robertjsmith

    @robertjsmith

    12 күн бұрын

    It’s the “farts” that are causing global warming.

  • @jiggersotoole7823

    @jiggersotoole7823

    7 күн бұрын

    That makes zero sense.

  • @haraldtheyounger5504

    @haraldtheyounger5504

    6 күн бұрын

    @@jiggersotoole7823 Makes perfect sense if you understand the context.

  • @jiggersotoole7823

    @jiggersotoole7823

    6 күн бұрын

    @@haraldtheyounger5504 Elaborate

  • @haraldtheyounger5504

    @haraldtheyounger5504

    6 күн бұрын

    @@jiggersotoole7823 What does the heading on the thumbnail say? "We are here to fart around". What does the Climate Change people claim is causing Climate Change? Put it all together, methane is part of the serious danger to this planet and ourselves in their erroneous belief.

  • @coldpotatoes2556
    @coldpotatoes25566 күн бұрын

    Smile a passers by😂....not in my suburb buddy.

  • @ZER0--
    @ZER0--3 күн бұрын

    Thing is if you spend your life farting around then you tend to have few friends. People don't like people who don't have jobs or do normal.

  • @kevincooper8666
    @kevincooper866612 күн бұрын

    Sounds like the saddest mf I've ever heard of making all those excuses just to get away from his wife

  • @benhulme2863
    @benhulme286316 күн бұрын

    That’s because we are expendable fart.

  • @MejganZia
    @MejganZia15 күн бұрын

    Sure if you sit around for the world to change, you'll turn into a skeleton in your chair. So go out and play.

  • @feverandfret

    @feverandfret

    15 күн бұрын

    Well said…

  • @davidkirkwood6063
    @davidkirkwood606320 күн бұрын

    One of my favorite things to do! Fart around!😁

  • @feverandfret

    @feverandfret

    20 күн бұрын

    Right? Vonnegut is such a great source of wit and wisdom..