>Thinker's Anonymous
>
>It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now
>and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another,
>and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
>
>I began to think alone - "to relax," I told myself - but I knew it
>wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and
>finally I was thinking all the time.
>
>I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment
>don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself.
>
>I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and
>Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking,
>"What is it exactly we are doing here?"
>
>Things weren't going so great at home either. One evening I had
>turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She
>spent that night at her mother's.
>
>I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called
>me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this,
>but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop
>thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job." This gave
>me a lot to think about.
>
>I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I
>confessed, "I've been thinking..."
>
>"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"
>
>"But Honey, surely it's not that serious." "It is serious," she
>said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors,
>and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on
>thinking we won't have any money!"
>
>"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and she began to
>cry.
>
>I'd had enough. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped
>out the door.
>
>I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with a
>PBS station on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up
>to the big glass doors... they didn't open. The library was closed.
>
>To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me
>that night.
>
>As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering
>for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking
>ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It
>comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster.
>
>Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never
>miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video;
>last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we
>avoided thinking since the last meeting.
>
>I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just
>seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.
>
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>
>It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now
>and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another,
>and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
>
>I began to think alone - "to relax," I told myself - but I knew it
>wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and
>finally I was thinking all the time.
>
>I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment
>don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself.
>
>I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and
>Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking,
>"What is it exactly we are doing here?"
>
>Things weren't going so great at home either. One evening I had
>turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She
>spent that night at her mother's.
>
>I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called
>me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this,
>but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop
>thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job." This gave
>me a lot to think about.
>
>I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I
>confessed, "I've been thinking..."
>
>"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"
>
>"But Honey, surely it's not that serious." "It is serious," she
>said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors,
>and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on
>thinking we won't have any money!"
>
>"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and she began to
>cry.
>
>I'd had enough. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped
>out the door.
>
>I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with a
>PBS station on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up
>to the big glass doors... they didn't open. The library was closed.
>
>To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me
>that night.
>
>As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering
>for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking
>ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It
>comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster.
>
>Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never
>miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video;
>last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we
>avoided thinking since the last meeting.
>
>I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just
>seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.
>
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---