I was studying in France at the Sorbonne University for a while, and I was taking this course on French civilization and theater, and the teacher gave us one main paper to write for the entire course, and it was to compare the use of irony between Voltaire and a Romanian playwright named Eugene Ionesco.
And so we were supposed to use to compare the use of irony by Voltaren, Ionesco talked about what irony is, how they both used it, what the differences were, and expound on that. Well, I ended up writing a dialog as if Voltaire and Ionesco were together in the same place in time, and they were having a debate between themselves about irony.
And it was actually, if I do say so myself, incredibly funny. I spent hours and hours researching and it was in French. I had to look up all these words. I did puns, plays on words. The whole thing was about irony squared and personified. And I remember giving it to my roommate. He read it. He said, This is the most hilarious thing I’ve ever said.
But you had an incredible sense of both the Spirit of Voltaire and he and Ionesco. And so I was so deeply proud of this paper and I turned it in. And the day I got it back from the professor, there were big red writings on it and said, This paper can’t even be graded because it’s not done in the tradition of French academics and is unacceptable and you’ll have to rewrite it.
And I was really distraught and not too happy after all that. And I argued with the teacher. I said, You don’t understand. Isn’t the exercise of this to gain a deeper understanding of Voltaire Ionesco, the problems of society, how irony helps us to smooth those things out and make it aware to others in a kinder, more sort of way.
Didn’t I demonstrate that? I think I understand the idea. There he said, “You can’t write a make believe play dialog between two people that didn’t go and say, No, it’s not acceptable.” So anyway, I was walking home after that discussion with with my roommate and he said, That’s terrible. What are you going to do? I said, Well, actually what I’m going to do is I’m going to quit school.
And he said, now come on, don’t you? I know you’re an emotional moment. Don’t make any drastic life changing decisions. What are you going to do? I said, No, really, I am going to quit school. And as a matter of fact, I’m going to do it right here and now. Before I have second thoughts, I went back to my flat pack, my backpack walked off to the nearest metro, said to my friend, let everybody know at school I’m okay, and that I’ve quit and I’ll see you sometime.
And I got in the metro and took it to the train station and looked up at the board and took the first train to somewhere and never looked back. And of course, my parents and other people weren’t entirely happy about that decision. But becoming a college dropout, as it were, was probably the best decision I ever made in my life.
And it set me off on a spiritual search where I really gained a true education in the way and the meaning that I needed. And it changed my life forever. And it was a decision that led to me being able to fully understand the implications of the Holomovement and put it into practice. So those are the kinds of situations that life will confront us with.
And sometimes it does require a life changing decision because if you’ve given it your best and you know you understand the object of the project and it’s not accepted by society, then you have to go your own way and take a different path. So the challenges are there. It requires a little bit of seeming insanity, perhaps in the moment, but it’s about courage and loyalty to your own vision and to what you in your heart knows is right.
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