Another day in paradise… 

The thought often comes to me here at Starbucks, standing at the counter speaking to the barista.  I know him by name and he already knows the type of coffee that I am in habit of ordering.  Sometimes I say the phrase out loud and Noah smiles.  We agree, a joint recognition of our good fortune: good health, a station in life that allows us to be here, the shear consciousness of life.  I am alive, yea!  We are winners!

All true, everything that I just wrote in the preceding paragraph.  Make no mistake though, this paradise —  can be heaven or it can be hell.  The quality of life, how we’d describe our condition depends upon many, may things.  Many of those components are outside of our control.  Those are external to us: the place and time of our birth, the parents that Nature assigned to us, and us to them, the society in which we grew and reached adulthood, the condition of our health, the “job” means of earning our living that we currently engage, etc..  Upon examination some elements which we may well have considered in our control are not up to us and never were.

What is in our control?  What I make of experience with my mind is something I control.  Am I mindful, pausing to reflect about the things that happen to me?  Do I panic when I discover my iphone is not in my briefcase?  What about the stories of events which happen anywhere in the world, – those come pushed by the iphone feed which I notice them involuntarily.  Am I easily alarmed by those stories?  Do I note whether a report is simply speculative, or whether facts predominate?  Do I take an active hand to organize my life, to prioritize those tasks for which I am reasonably responsible.  Such matters are within my control.

“Another day in paradise…”

I suppose all of this, and likely much more lies concealed behind the recollection of those words, lyric lines which come from another magnificent Grammy Award winning ballad by The Eagles released in 1977,  Hotel California.  Don Henley said, “It’s our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles. It’s basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about.” –

Also it bears mentioning that I have read much lately about Stoicism.  I guess that’s obvious.

Hotel California

By the Eagles

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself
“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell”
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor
I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain
“Please bring me my wine.”
He said, “We haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine.”
And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice
And she said “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device”
And in the master’s chambers
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives
But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember
I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
“Relax,” said the night man
“We are programmed to receive
You can check-out any time you like
But you can never leave!”

Lyrics by Glenn Frey and Don Felder