a sociobiological case of mania: the moth 060797

the lesson of the moth

i was talking to a moth

the other evening

he was trying to break into

an electric light bulb

and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows

pull this stunt i asked him

because it is the conventional

thing for moths or why

if that had been an uncovered

candle instead of an electric

light bulb you would

now be a small unsightly cinder

have you no sense

plenty of it he answered

but at times we get tired

of using it

we get bored with the routine

and crave beauty

and excitement

fire is beautiful

and we know that if we get

too close it will kill us

but what does that matter

it is better to be happy

for a moment

and be burned up with beauty

than to live a long time

and be bored all the while

so we wad all our life up

into one little roll

and then we shoot the roll

that is what life is for

it is better to be a part of beauty

for one instant and then cease to

exist than to exist forever

and never be a part of beauty

our attitude toward life

is come easy go easy

we are like human beings

used to be before they became

too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him

out of his philosophy

he went and immolated himself

on a patent cigar lighter

i do not agree with him

myself i would rather have

half the happiness and twice

the longevity

but at the same time i wish

there was something i wanted

as badly as he wanted to fry himself

archy

note:

marquis d, 1973, the lesson of the moth, in archy and mehitabel, ny, anchor, pp 107-108. marquis was a columnist for the new york sun in 1916. he found his material each morning, written through the night by a poet reincarnated as a cockroach, archy, who typed by diving from the top of the typewriter, headfirst, onto each key as needed. thus, there are no capitals or any other symbol requiring two keys at once. archy often wrote about mehitabel, a cat in her 9th incarnation, one of which included a life as cleopatra. well worth the 6 dollars and evolutionarily relevant.

this poem could also have been posted under tinbergen and mickey mouse. there may indeed be some tie between some manic behaviors and superoptimal stimuli, especially to the extent that manics want the biggest, the best, or the most expensive.

Replies:

There are no replies to this message.

| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |

Copyright © 1996-2004 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.