Three Passions
“Three Passions I Have Lived For” By Bertrand Russell
In the essay “Three Passions I Have Lived For” by Bertrand Russell, the author states three significant factors that have greatly influenced him during his lifetime. Love and knowledge see fairly appropriate but he also adds in pity which alters the simplicity of the three. That in fact changes the tone of the essay into something far more complex. Russell expresses how happy love makes him and how much he would sacrifice just for a few moments of that feeling because he realizes that without it he would feel the “terrible loneliness” he describes along with the rest of the world. When he states that love is “too good for human life” it reveals how he feels that humans are considerably undeserving for such an emotion. Knowledge was also very important to Russell and that was shown through his achievements in life but since he was not able to give himself credit for them, it added more negativity to his view on the world. Pity appears to be the passion that took the biggest toll on him because no matter how happy love or knowledge made him he was always thinking about those who did not get to experience them. Russell realizes he suffers in his life because he cannot do much to change the amount of pain on Earth and with that he reached acceptance. Although Bertrand Russell suffered along with everyone else, he would do it all over again to experience love, knowledge, and pity because it made it worth living.
In the essay “Three Passions I Have Lived For” by Bertrand Russell, the author states three significant factors that have greatly influenced him during his lifetime. Love and knowledge see fairly appropriate but he also adds in pity which alters the simplicity of the three. That in fact changes the tone of the essay into something far more complex. Russell expresses how happy love makes him and how much he would sacrifice just for a few moments of that feeling because he realizes that without it he would feel the “terrible loneliness” he describes along with the rest of the world. When he states that love is “too good for human life” it reveals how he feels that humans are considerably undeserving for such an emotion. Knowledge was also very important to Russell and that was shown through his achievements in life but since he was not able to give himself credit for them, it added more negativity to his view on the world. Pity appears to be the passion that took the biggest toll on him because no matter how happy love or knowledge made him he was always thinking about those who did not get to experience them. Russell realizes he suffers in his life because he cannot do much to change the amount of pain on Earth and with that he reached acceptance. Although Bertrand Russell suffered along with everyone else, he would do it all over again to experience love, knowledge, and pity because it made it worth living.