“The Art of Being Nobody,” by Eric Manners, KEYS TO HAPPINESS, A Reader’s Digest Guide to Successful Living

November 24, 2013

Keys to Happiness, A Reader’s Digest Guide to Successful Living copyrighted by the Reader’s Digest Association in 1955 was once the property of the Hotel Rockaway.   Thanksgiving is four days away, the oak leaves on the hydrangea bush and trees hang tight in the wind of early morning light.  The provocative title by Eric Manners, “The Art of Being Nobody,” was a phrase I had never heard.  Here’s a paragraph from the essay:

Photo Courtesy: Hampton Mansion, National Park Service

Photo Courtesy: Hampton Mansion, National Park Service

“You’re you.  If it’s truly a part of the youness of you, sleep in a tree.  (Charles Waterton, the grand old English naturalist and grander individualist, used to do that every now and then.  He said it gave him the right tuning for feeling like a piece of God’s creation, along with the chimpanzee and the owl.)

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