Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The French writer Baudelaire once wrote a prose poem in which he joked that people should spend more time getting drunk. As he put it, “One should always be drunk. That’s all that matters.”
Of course he didn’t meant drunk just in terms of alcohol.
That would be very poor advice indeed. Instead, he was urging people to embrace life to the fullest, to pursue your passions, to dream big, and to laugh in the face of death. Essentially, it was a manifesto for the importance of creative intoxication.
In his own words:
“So as not to feel Time's horrible burden that breaks your shoulders and bows you down, you must get drunk without ceasing. But what with? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you choose. But get drunk.”
And if, at some time (…), in the bleak solitude of your room, you are waking up when drunkenness has already abated, ask the wind, the wave, a star, the clock, all that which flees, all that which groans, all that which rolls, all that which sings, all that which speaks, ask them what time it is; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will reply: 'It is time to get drunk! So that you may not be the martyred slaves of Time, get drunk; get drunk, and never pause for rest! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you choose!'
In his own humorous way, Baudelaire was encouraging us to commit to one thing and then go for it completely. It’s essentially a poem about the ‘intoxication’ of having a creative project that nourishes and sustains you day after day. Call it a ‘mission’, or something that gets you excited to get out of bed in the morning, something you can dive into so completely that you become lost to the world. What Lacan calls a “symbolic death.”
Baudelaire’s poem comes to us as a powerful reminder of the importance of indulging in your passions, your hobbies, and your work. Above all, it’s a manifesto for passionate engagement as a cure for the paralysis of passivity. His argument is simple: joy is right there for the taking. All we have to do is find something that excites us. Instead of doom-scrolling, we can choose to harness our attention, and commit to something that makes us feel alive. Baudelaire wanted all of us to enjoy this feeling of intoxication, be it in your hobby or your work.
Hopefully this post comes to you as a form of gentle encouragement, to take some time off do something that brings you joy. To grant yourself the gift of doing that which you love, or to simply contemplate how you’d like to live your life. My hope is that in so doing you may find what Baudelaire called ‘drunkenness’, which is to say, a lust for life, the kind that comes when you get to do exactly what makes you feel most alive and at peace.
Julian
For more, visit either
Substack: julianphilosophy.substack.com
Patreon: patreon.com/juliqnphilosophy
#art #creative #philosophy
The French writer Baudelaire once wrote a prose poem in which he joked that people should spend more time getting drunk. As he put it, “One should always be drunk. That’s all that matters.”
Of course he didn’t meant drunk just in terms of alcohol.
That would be very poor advice indeed. Instead, he was urging people to embrace life to the fullest, to pursue your passions, to dream big, and to laugh in the face of death. Essentially, it was a manifesto for the importance of creative intoxication.
In his own words:
“So as not to feel Time's horrible burden that breaks your shoulders and bows you down, you must get drunk without ceasing. But what with? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you choose. But get drunk.”
And if, at some time (…), in the bleak solitude of your room, you are waking up when drunkenness has already abated, ask the wind, the wave, a star, the clock, all that which flees, all that which groans, all that which rolls, all that which sings, all that which speaks, ask them what time it is; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will reply: 'It is time to get drunk! So that you may not be the martyred slaves of Time, get drunk; get drunk, and never pause for rest! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you choose!'
In his own humorous way, Baudelaire was encouraging us to commit to one thing and then go for it completely. It’s essentially a poem about the ‘intoxication’ of having a creative project that nourishes and sustains you day after day. Call it a ‘mission’, or something that gets you excited to get out of bed in the morning, something you can dive into so completely that you become lost to the world. What Lacan calls a “symbolic death.”
Baudelaire’s poem comes to us as a powerful reminder of the importance of indulging in your passions, your hobbies, and your work. Above all, it’s a manifesto for passionate engagement as a cure for the paralysis of passivity. His argument is simple: joy is right there for the taking. All we have to do is find something that excites us. Instead of doom-scrolling, we can choose to harness our attention, and commit to something that makes us feel alive. Baudelaire wanted all of us to enjoy this feeling of intoxication, be it in your hobby or your work.
Hopefully this post comes to you as a form of gentle encouragement, to take some time off do something that brings you joy. To grant yourself the gift of doing that which you love, or to simply contemplate how you’d like to live your life. My hope is that in so doing you may find what Baudelaire called ‘drunkenness’, which is to say, a lust for life, the kind that comes when you get to do exactly what makes you feel most alive and at peace.
Julian
For more, visit either
Substack: julianphilosophy.substack.com
Patreon: patreon.com/juliqnphilosophy
#art #creative #philosophy
