"The days are gods"

The Turkish Nobelist Orhan Pamuk said: "For me, a good day is a day like any other, when I have written one page well. Except for the hours I spend writing, life seems to me to be flawed, deficient, and senseless."

I understand where he's coming from, and am also most contented on those days when I have scribbled a few good lines. But that's an excessively bookish attitude. Even a bad writing day can still include a trip to the park, a good walk or bikeride, a ballgame, a fun outing with family and friends, splashy fun at the pool... Try to get out of the book-lined study a little more, Orhan, and let nature and her progeny be your study for at least a portion of each day. I don't know if that's the best way to win the Nobel, but there are bigger prizes at stake than mere recognition by one's peers.

So I side with Emerson over Pamuk on this one: the days are Gods, summer days especially.

Pamuk also said literature should focus on our fears: "the fear of being left outside, and the fear of counting for nothing, and the feelings of worthlessness that come with such fears…" But I think literature, philosophy, and ordinary good sense should go beyond fear and explore the fearless state of mind that habituates itself, as Whitman said, to the daily dazzle of existence - the good, godly days - and learns to love life.