This
meaningful expression actually originated in
philosophy class, which is why we know it is
meaningful.
Erm.
All kidding aside, back when I was taking my
philosophy major back at St. John's, my friend and I had one of the
world's most
horrendous weeks. Both of us. It was AWFUL. Fucking
miserable bad luck and
bad juju, and in our
desperation we, being where we were, consulted
Epictetus--the
father of stoicism.
Stoicism states, among other things, that
thou shalt not bitch. You are always
free, Epictetus said, and so whatever your situation is you should
take it like a man and get the best out of it you can. His reasoning is, if you really wanted to,
you could always kill yourself.
My friend and I got into the
habit of telling
each other, at
particularly bad moments, that "The door is always open". That's how
Epictetus actually phrased that particular bit of
advice--the door is always open to end your life. It
rather kept us in
good spirits, albeit
extremely sarcastic good spirits.
I decided to
node this because the
stars have fallen on the
evil line again, and I've been thinking more and more...the door is always open...
keeps me sane, you know?