Can we really feel infinite?

"We accept the love we think we deserve"

I recently finished a book called The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. As you may have guessed from the name of this blog, the book had a great impact on me.

The book is written as an epistolary novel, with the narrator, Charlie, writing a series of anonymous letters to a person whom he does not know personally. However, I got the feeling that he admired this particular person, and felt he could trust him with his thoughts and feelings. What follows is possibly the most heartfelt moments any growing teenage boy could encounter, from his first crush, the death of a loved one, introversion, a new school and learning how to deal with all these new feelings.

Charlie starts the novel as somewhat of a socially awkward adolescent. He soon however, finds acceptance from two people, Patrick and Sam. They seem to share Charlie's sense of self discovery and intellect and Charlie connects with them instantly.They introduce Charlie to a variety of new experiences and guide him through the toughest times of his teens.

At one point in the book, Charlie says ... "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite"

That one simple sentence really struck me and got me thinking. The first thought that came to my mind was what is it, to feel infinite? This was closely followed by, have I ever felt infinite before?

So what does it mean to feel infinte? Is it to feel on top of the world, invincible, or that some particular moment could exist forever in your memory?

As I continued reading the book, Charlie used this phrase again, and I couldn't help but compare the moments at which he said it, and try and figure out its meaning. The first time he says it is towards the start of the novel, when he is confused, and just trying to "participate" in life. The second instance is when he is much more assured, and he seems to have found who he really is.

This naturally made me think that to feel infinite was restricted to a single moment in time, and that it could not last for maybe more than a few minutes. But I could not seem to shake this phrase from my head. It even got to the point where I was asking people I knew what they took the phrase to mean.

I feel the best answer I got was from my friend who said "It is whatever you want it to be"

I had to agree with him. Feeling infinite would mean different things to different people, and it may have different meanings.

I would be interested to know what your ideas on this subject are. What is it, to feel infinite?

If you haven't read it, I strongly reccomend it to anyone. I felt it had more poignant meaning for me, as I was able to relate to some of the situations that Charlie found himself in, but my girlfriend also thoroughly enjoyed it, so I implore anyone to seek it out.

"Do you always think this much, Charlie?"
"Is that bad?"
"Not necessarily. It's just that sometimes people use thought to not participate in life."
"Is that bad?"
"Yes."