Some thoughts on beats

No, not those. Beats.

Kerouac didn't consider himself a great writer, he thought he was a great rememberer. Makes me wish I weren't so forgetful.

I recently read on Wikipedia that the origin of beat comes from the beatitudes. For the non-religiously inclined, the beatitudes are some of Jesus' sayings from his sermon on the mount, "blessed are the meek" and all that jazz.

Kerouac:

Beat doesn't mean tired, or bushed, so much as it means beato, the Italian for beatific: to be in a state of beatitude, like Saint Francis, trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of the heart. How can this be done in our mad modern world of multiplicities and millions? By practicing a little solitude, going off by yourself once in a while to store up that most precious of golds: the vibrations of sincerity.

St. Francis, gentle soul and patron saint of my hometown. From doctorpon.