"Monophobia is the fear of being alone or solitude (also linked to Eremophobia, Isolophobia and Autophobia).It is classified as a part of the depression spectrum and can manifest after trauma or loss of a loved one. Sufferers will go to great lengths to avoid these feelings."

I couldn't figure out which trauma, but I know to which lengths...

Edward Gorey

There was an Old Man with a nose,
Who said, "If you choose to suppose
That my nose is too long, you are certainly wrong!"
That remarkable Man with a nose.

Edward Lear

There once was a monk of Siberia,
Whose fasting grew wearier and wearier,
Till at length, with a yell,
He burst from his cell,
And devoured the Father Superior!

a limerick,
much like a sonnet (strict form, rhyme, meter), and like the opposite of a sonnet (not exactly into the whole love thing), therefore, better! :)

People who do things are happier than people who don't do things. I rarely do things.
the man who fell asleep.
(turning gold into base metal since 1975)

At any party with 3-year-olds the kids are more interesting than the adults.

fragmente din George Orwell - Reflections on Ghandi
(i know it's long but it's worth the effort)

"It is worth considering the disciplines which Gandhi imposed on himself and which - though he might not insist on every one of his followers observing every detail - he considered indispensable if one wanted to serve either God or humanity. First of all, no meat-eating, and if possible no animal food in any form. (Gandhi himself, for the sake of his health, had to compromise on milk, but seems to have felt this to be a backsliding.) No alcohol or tobacco, and no spices or condiments even of a vegetable kind, since food should be taken not for its own sake but solely in order to preserve one's strength. Secondly, if possible, no sexual intercourse. If sexual intercourse must happen, then it should be for the sole purpose of begetting children and presumably at long intervals. Gandhi himself, in his middle thirties, took the vow of brahmacharya, which means not only complete chastity but the elimination of sexual desire. This condition, it seems, is difficult to attain without a special diet and frequent fasting. One of the dangers of milk-drinking is that it is apt to arouse sexual desire. And finally - this is the cardinal point - for the seeker after goodness there must be no close friendships and no exclusive loves whatever.

Close friendships, Gandhi says, are dangerous, because "friends react on one another" and through loyalty to a friend one can be led into wrong-doing. This is unquestionably true. Moreover, if one is to love God, or to love humanity as a whole, one cannot give one's preference to any individual person. This again is true, and it marks the point at which the humanistic and the religious attitude cease to be reconcilable. To an ordinary human being, love means nothing if it does not mean loving some people more than others.[...]

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals. No doubt alcohol, tobacco, and so forth, are things that a saint must avoid, but sainthood is also a thing that human beings must avoid. There is an obvious retort to this, but one should be wary about making it. In this yogi-ridden age, it is too readily assumed that "non-attachment" is not only better than a full acceptance of earthly life, but that the ordinary man only rejects it because it is too difficult: in other words, that the average human being is a failed saint. It is doubtful whether this is true. Many people genuinely do not wish to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings. If one could follow it to its psychological roots, one would, I believe, find that the main motive for "non-attachment" is a desire to escape from the pain of living, and above all from love, which, sexual or non-sexual, is hard work. But it is not necessary here to argue whether the other-worldly or the humanistic ideal is "higher". The point is that they are incompatible. One must choose between God and Man, and all "radicals" and "progressives," from the mildest Liberal to the most extreme Anarchist, have in effect chosen Man."

potlatch - transitive verb
1 : to give (as a gift) especially with the expectation of a gift in return

În engleză există un cuvânt pentru asta!

Şi povestea:
potlatch - noun
Etymology: Chinook Jargon patlač, from Nootka p̓aƛp̓ač
Date: circa 1861
a ceremonial feast of the American Indians of the northwest coast marked by the host's lavish distribution of gifts or sometimes destruction of property to demonstrate wealth and generosity with the expectation of eventual reciprocation
Northwest : a social event or celebration

din Nicolae Steinhardt - Jurnalul fericirii:

Ai încălţat opincile realităţii, au să-ţi bătătorească tălpile.

Dumnezeu nu e un imens papagal roşu. (Kierkegaard)

le Pape, cest des bureaux. (Pierre Benoit)

Lucrurile de care suntem înlănţuiţi sunt ireale, dar lanţurile care ne leagă de ele sunt foarte reale. (Simone)


fráier (-ri), s.m. – 1. (Arg.) Om prost, care este furat sau de la care se obţine vreun avantaj. – 2. (Arg.) Ins, tip. Germ. Freier „pretendent, logodnic“ (Graur, GS, VI, 335), cf. pol. frajerz „logodnic“ (Graur, BL, IV, 82), ceh. frajer (Berneker 283), cr. frajar. Semantismul pare să se explice prin ideea că logodnicul este întotdeauna tras pe sfoară. După Vasiliu, GS, VII, 114, din germ. Freiherr „domn“.

Steinhardt se concentrează asupra ultimei variante etimologice. Freiherr - om liber, nobil, domn, nu poate fi tras pe sfoară decât în aparenţă, pentru că e la un nivel la care aşa ceva nu îl atinge.