Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature. You can buy stuff with money, but basically money cannot give you pleasure. Money only protects you from suffering, but it doesn't give pleasure. When you buy a new leather sofa you feel how soft and warm and comfortable it is but it reminds you that you aren't that homeless guy on the street sleeping on the road, but after 5 minutes the sofa gets old and you want something even more comfortable or something that is even better to show off. You acclimate to your surroundings, humans are masters of adapation, it is in our blood since the cavemen days to grow tired of something very quicky. And then your thirst is never quenches, ie Bill Gates has more than me, I will never be satisfied.
I realize that this is all philosophy, and conjecture. But, I have come to realize that in order to be a good student and a good person, the most important thing is not to learn how the water cycle works or how to find derivatives, the most important thing is to learn how to think. This is where schools in America fail. They fail to show students that education or learning is not about memorizing or trying to learn stuff for an exam, it's about finding the beauty in everything around you. People like Aristotle and Plato had ideas, but they were probably not the first or the last to have those thoughts. Everyone around you in the world is whirling around with ideas, even those who cannot read, only their thoughts are in an undecphiberable language, some kind of secret code in their minds. Basically when people realize that there is a beauty in the language of mathematics or science and technology and of course the arts and entertainment, then people will become more well-rounded and will believe that this world is a miracle made possible by the ingenuity of humankind.
I always feel like I have made myself a fool. My parents came from another country to America to give me better opportunities, because where they came from students worked very hard but never really got a reward. They said America is a place where kids don't have to work as hard and yet they can go farther and higher. The only goal they had for me was to be successful and happy, but all my life I failed them, and I failed myself. I also failed my younger brother, who is now in high school, I feel that I could never be a good enough role model for him. My own failures instilled a sense in him that mediocrity is acceptable. But, I realize that I was just too immature in high school. I would work hard and try my best and yet still do badly in classes. It was because I couldn't see, my eyes were blinded, but now I can see the light. All it takes is 5 minutes of thinking to turn your life around, but I never sat and thought. Sadly people think these days that they are too busy to think. They don't do it enough. They don't sit down and ask, "Where exactly am I going with my life?"
From the smallest atom to plants to animals to ecosystems to human societies and culture, to the buildings we make to the grandest natural wonders known to mankind, everything is connected. And everything from literature to art to movies to music to mathematics to physics to biology to chemistry to technology to having a coffee to taking a shower to slapping someone across the face...these things are also connected, because they make up the sphere we know as life. In this planet. In this solar system, in this galaxy, in this universe. From the tiny atom or molecule to the galaxies and supernovas and black holes...how can we ever doubt that these things all somehow, beautifully, fit into the realm of knowledge and existence?
We are all students of life. I've heard people say that they lost their innocence, but the moment you lose your innocence is the moment you cease to exist. You can never lose those eyes of a child, that curiosity or quest for beauty that the greatest scientists or mathematicians or architects or authors or poets or film directors have about their profession and their field, but also that curioisty they have about life. What it means ultimately to be a human.
Many people do bad things. But are there really bad people? People who have been frustrated and never got opportunties to realize their potential can turn "bad" (only in the sense they think they were ripped off by society). But also people who did their best but keep comparing themselves to people who are "better" than them, or people who have everything they could ever want, all the money, all the happiness, but they become complacent or "bored"...these kinds of people can also do "bad" things. Basically human life is a constant struggle...to find the balance between stimulating our minds and bracing for disaster, to seek the balance between something being a distraction and something making you a better person, giving you perspective, showing you how to think. When people become bored they watch random youtube videos or commit crimes, they think they are useless and worthless, that if they kill themselves there will be one less person in this world, not that it would matter because they could never contribute to society or the world and are only being a waste of space and a liability to society.
Life is a journey filled with regret, risk, sadness, happiness, going in circles, being lonely at the top. and yet the capability within all of us to discover what we never knew, find the beauty of the universe from the atom to the black hole, and discover something about ourselves that we never knew before, realizing our dreams, fulfilling our potential, growing in more ways than we ever thought possible. Money is something people invented to keep order in society, humans are more complex and sophisticated and emotional and amazing than the concept of money. You have money, you get friends you never know you would get, you get women wanting to sleep with you, but if you didn't have that money they would throw you onto the curb. Money can't give us happiness, it can only protect us from getting hurt. Because in the back of everyone's mind, is alwways the image of destruction, of global catastrophe and tsunamis and losing your entire life savings. That is the problem. In our minds we are always fearful of the worst case scenario, and we never expect the best case scenario. If we get a good outcome we think we got lucky or it's a result of hard work, but if I wasn't so lucky or didn't work so hard I could just as easily be begging for food on the street right now. Humans live in a constant state of fight or flight, always running for their life, even today, from the way our brains are wired when cavemen would run to save themselves from wild animals or never have any food security. Happiness for us is not about happiness for its own sake, happiness for us is about the absence of sadness. Because we think without sadness, how can we ever really know what happiness is? When we receive a gift or a good deed we think we have to reciprocate or that that no one can ever really be generous or kind to you without expecting something in return. We always think in a cynical way, we always expect the worst case scenario because we are subconsciously constantly afraid of sadness and pain.
We are just sophisticated cavemen, we are not the beings that we were meant to be. We have not realized our potential as the human race.
On February 11 2012 02:14 keiraknightlee wrote: Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature.
Other people are not robots. The sooner you realise this, the better. I am only 31 years old, but what I know now that I didn't know when I was in my early 20s, is that actually doing things is a lot more important than sitting in your room thinking about human nature or developing your own personal philosophy. It doesn't even matter what you do, as long as you go and accomplish meaningful things every day of your life then you will do well. If you only consume media and play games then you are on a troubled path. If you don't believe me, then go read about George Orwell.
On February 11 2012 02:14 keiraknightlee wrote: Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature.
Other people are not robots. The sooner you realise this, the better. I am only 31 years old, but what I know now that I didn't know when I was in my early 20s, is that actually doing things is a lot more important than sitting in your room thinking about human nature or developing your own personal philosophy. It doesn't even matter what you do, as long as you go and accomplish meaningful things every day of your life then you will do well. If you only consume media and play games then you are on a troubled path. If you don't believe me, then go read about George Orwell.
That's all well and good, but you have to arrive at the conclusion of what you find meaningful and valuable before you can DO what is meaningful. I'm sure all those thoughts in your early 20s helped you find that out, don't you think?
On February 11 2012 02:14 keiraknightlee wrote: Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature.
Other people are not robots. The sooner you realise this, the better. I am only 31 years old, but what I know now that I didn't know when I was in my early 20s, is that actually doing things is a lot more important than sitting in your room thinking about human nature or developing your own personal philosophy. It doesn't even matter what you do, as long as you go and accomplish meaningful things every day of your life then you will do well. If you only consume media and play games then you are on a troubled path. If you don't believe me, then go read about George Orwell.
That's all well and good, but you have to arrive at the conclusion of what you find meaningful and valuable before you can DO what is meaningful. I'm sure all those thoughts in your early 20s helped you find that out, don't you think?
I disagree. I think it's far more common for people to reverse engineer and take apart what they've already done and find meaning in it. To save one's frail ego one has to justify the things one has done in one's life, or face depression at the utter waste they've made. It really has more to do with mood than any sort of objectivity.
As I wrote in another blog somewhere (I think it was haji's "Money"): happiness is biting into a freshly (how ironic) fried KFC chicken and tasting the orgasmic explosion of 18 spices and herbs, steaming juicy chicken meat, and probably-8-hours-old-dirty-oil. It's happiness. Don't you dare say otherwise, that's damn right happiness for me and nobody feels the same warmth and joy as I do when I bite into that thing of beauty.
Plus, what's with the failure blogs lately? A coincidence? Anyhow, people are not robots (as deathly rat said above) and you'd be amazed how wonderfully unique individuals others are once you get to know them. Complaining about how the American education system is making you memorize and reiterate instead of truly 'learn'? You should know from countless stories how other education systems around the world make you into machines. I for one went to elementary school in Korea - only elementary - and already felt a huge difference once I came over to Canada. I was proud of being able to mentally compute 4-digit additions faster than all my peers in Korea. Now, that didn't mean jack shit because you had calculators. Instead, I thought the Canadian public education system was wonderful because it had more opportunities for individual research and exploration without the unreasonable pressure to 'beat the rest of the class'.
You need to go out there, grab a friend or two, sit down, and have a nice four-piece meal at KFC. Enjoy.
*edit: Disclaimer: I am not associated with KFC in any business way. I am just a faithful customer.
On February 11 2012 02:14 keiraknightlee wrote: Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature.
Other people are not robots. The sooner you realise this, the better. I am only 31 years old, but what I know now that I didn't know when I was in my early 20s, is that actually doing things is a lot more important than sitting in your room thinking about human nature or developing your own personal philosophy. It doesn't even matter what you do, as long as you go and accomplish meaningful things every day of your life then you will do well. If you only consume media and play games then you are on a troubled path. If you don't believe me, then go read about George Orwell.
That's all well and good, but you have to arrive at the conclusion of what you find meaningful and valuable before you can DO what is meaningful. I'm sure all those thoughts in your early 20s helped you find that out, don't you think?
I disagree. I think it's far more common for people to reverse engineer and take apart what they've already done and find meaning in it. To save one's frail ego one has to justify the things one has done in one's life, or face depression at the utter waste they've made. It really has more to do with mood than any sort of objectivity.
Labelling past actions as valuable simply because you did them yourself in no way gives them value.
On February 11 2012 02:14 keiraknightlee wrote: Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature.
Other people are not robots. The sooner you realise this, the better. I am only 31 years old, but what I know now that I didn't know when I was in my early 20s, is that actually doing things is a lot more important than sitting in your room thinking about human nature or developing your own personal philosophy. It doesn't even matter what you do, as long as you go and accomplish meaningful things every day of your life then you will do well. If you only consume media and play games then you are on a troubled path. If you don't believe me, then go read about George Orwell.
That's all well and good, but you have to arrive at the conclusion of what you find meaningful and valuable before you can DO what is meaningful. I'm sure all those thoughts in your early 20s helped you find that out, don't you think?
I disagree. I think it's far more common for people to reverse engineer and take apart what they've already done and find meaning in it. To save one's frail ego one has to justify the things one has done in one's life, or face depression at the utter waste they've made. It really has more to do with mood than any sort of objectivity.
Labelling past actions as valuable simply because you did them yourself in no way gives them value.
But that's what a lot of people do. I took such and such a degree, therefore it was valuable (or there for I wasted 4 years of my life for nothing and feel ashamed). I did this job, it helped people (forget that I was just doing it for money, or because it was the only opportunity at the time). You can dream big about what you want to do, but in the end you always just justify the path you already took because the path of the future is incredibly uncertain. Maybe an exception is hobbies, but initially we just do them 'because I enjoy them and it's fun' and later we talk about the valuable skills we gained from them even tho they weren't intentional.
On February 11 2012 02:14 keiraknightlee wrote: Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature.
Other people are not robots. The sooner you realise this, the better. I am only 31 years old, but what I know now that I didn't know when I was in my early 20s, is that actually doing things is a lot more important than sitting in your room thinking about human nature or developing your own personal philosophy. It doesn't even matter what you do, as long as you go and accomplish meaningful things every day of your life then you will do well. If you only consume media and play games then you are on a troubled path. If you don't believe me, then go read about George Orwell.
That's all well and good, but you have to arrive at the conclusion of what you find meaningful and valuable before you can DO what is meaningful. I'm sure all those thoughts in your early 20s helped you find that out, don't you think?
I disagree. I think it's far more common for people to reverse engineer and take apart what they've already done and find meaning in it. To save one's frail ego one has to justify the things one has done in one's life, or face depression at the utter waste they've made. It really has more to do with mood than any sort of objectivity.
Labelling past actions as valuable simply because you did them yourself in no way gives them value.
Anything you learn from is valuable. Learn from your past - failures and successes. @OP you might feel like a failure NOW... but what can you learn from that? Further, failing to live up to other's expectations is less meaningful than you think.
First I agree that being able to think by yourself is a valuable skill and not taught in most education places. However don't use "thinking" as an excuse for not doing stuff.
Then I don't understand your argument for being a failure, but you seem to neglect that having money helpes a FUCKING LOT on being happy.
It is not because you can buy many things, but because you can do what you really want and invest your time into it without worries. For example, I love powerlifting and I see myself comitting fully to it for the next 10 years. However, I know if I was sick rich I could do even better, have a coach to watch my form every lift I do, a PT to massage after and increase my recovery, and more time to sleep or rest instead of working/studying. Not to mention it makes you hot for girls.
Btw the easiest way to get happier fast is to squat/deadlift 2-3 times a week :p
On February 11 2012 02:14 keiraknightlee wrote: Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature.
Other people are not robots. The sooner you realise this, the better. I am only 31 years old, but what I know now that I didn't know when I was in my early 20s, is that actually doing things is a lot more important than sitting in your room thinking about human nature or developing your own personal philosophy. It doesn't even matter what you do, as long as you go and accomplish meaningful things every day of your life then you will do well. If you only consume media and play games then you are on a troubled path. If you don't believe me, then go read about George Orwell.
That's all well and good, but you have to arrive at the conclusion of what you find meaningful and valuable before you can DO what is meaningful. I'm sure all those thoughts in your early 20s helped you find that out, don't you think?
I disagree. I think it's far more common for people to reverse engineer and take apart what they've already done and find meaning in it. To save one's frail ego one has to justify the things one has done in one's life, or face depression at the utter waste they've made. It really has more to do with mood than any sort of objectivity.
Labelling past actions as valuable simply because you did them yourself in no way gives them value.
But that's what a lot of people do. I took such and such a degree, therefore it was valuable (or there for I wasted 4 years of my life for nothing and feel ashamed). I did this job, it helped people (forget that I was just doing it for money, or because it was the only opportunity at the time). You can dream big about what you want to do, but in the end you always just justify the path you already took because the path of the future is incredibly uncertain. Maybe an exception is hobbies, but initially we just do them 'because I enjoy them and it's fun' and later we talk about the valuable skills we gained from them even tho they weren't intentional.
Sure. But to clarify what I meant in my first post, to find real value in your actions, you have to have some principles to build these actions on. Labelling actions as valuable in hindsight is not to give your actions real value, it's as you said, a defense of the ego.
On February 11 2012 02:14 keiraknightlee wrote: Ok, so I don't have much time and I want to keep this short. Over my life I have come to the realization that most people are robots. They think money will make them happy but first you have to realize human nature.
Other people are not robots. The sooner you realise this, the better. I am only 31 years old, but what I know now that I didn't know when I was in my early 20s, is that actually doing things is a lot more important than sitting in your room thinking about human nature or developing your own personal philosophy. It doesn't even matter what you do, as long as you go and accomplish meaningful things every day of your life then you will do well. If you only consume media and play games then you are on a troubled path. If you don't believe me, then go read about George Orwell.
That's all well and good, but you have to arrive at the conclusion of what you find meaningful and valuable before you can DO what is meaningful. I'm sure all those thoughts in your early 20s helped you find that out, don't you think?
I disagree. I think it's far more common for people to reverse engineer and take apart what they've already done and find meaning in it. To save one's frail ego one has to justify the things one has done in one's life, or face depression at the utter waste they've made. It really has more to do with mood than any sort of objectivity.
Labelling past actions as valuable simply because you did them yourself in no way gives them value.
Anything you learn from is valuable. Learn from your past - failures and successes. @OP you might feel like a failure NOW... but what can you learn from that? Further, failing to live up to other's expectations is less meaningful than you think.
I agree that learning from your past has a lot of value. But I don't think that actions you carried out are valuable simply because you did them. To give them value you have to think about why you did them and then learn from that.
First, Wohmfg -- Chef was not saying that things are meaningful because you do them. He is saying that looking back in retrospect on a varied life (not just once on your deathbed, but as a matter of course) let's you separate the tripe from the treasure.
It is better for a philosopher to look back on a life where you went out and tried a lot of things, won and lost, etc. and then to reflect on the deepest questions than to try to do the reverse -- there's a reason most great philosophers wrote their best works as old men (or invalids) -- they had lived these varied lives and then wanted to share their ideas.
I have a BA (or a BS--I can't remember) in philosophy. In many ways, I am glad that I did it because it raised a lot of questions and gave me an opportunity to think more deeply about various things. However, after a few years of spending the majority of my time in research and contemplation over the ultimate questions (what to do, what to believe, who to be) I realized that my youth was passing and I was not taking advantage of it.
I agree that the "unexamined life is not worth living" (Socrates ftw). But so to is the "life of perpetual examination." You cannot tell what is the right way to live without trying new things.
Hermann Hesse's 'Siddartha' makes this point beautifully. A boy (Siddhartha) and his best friend leave their homes as upper class kids to go study asceticism in the woods, where they learn deep meditation. After some time, they leave to try another path. They come across the Buddha and listen to his teachings. The friend becomes a Buddhist and follows the Buddha as a monk for the rest of his life. The boy does not (though he agrees with the Buddha's teachings). Over the course of several years, the boy goes on to romance a courtesan, make money in commerce, get fat on rich foods, become addicted to gambling and drinking and eventually experiences a deep despair. He ends up attempting to drown himself in a river. At this point he is a fat middle-aged man. He decides not to kill himself and becomes an apprentice ferry-raft operator to a crazy old man whose religion is to "listen to the river." He finds that he has a child and his lover dies in his arms. The child, a miserable spoiled brat, quickly grows tired of living with "two old banana eaters" in a tiny shack and runs away. The crazy old man happily walks into the forest to die. Over the course of more years, Siddartha begins to hear the voice of the river. One day an old buddhist monk crosses the river on the ferry. Siddhartha recognizes his best friend from his youth. The friend is still striving to understand the buddha's teachings and reconcile them with his own thoughts and desires. Siddhartha explains that teachings and theories are useless -- Siddhartha was taught that drinking and gambling were bad, but he did not know this until he was a drunkard and a gambler. Siddhartha expresses a grand theory of time that he learned from listening to the river, that all things that are or ever were simply are. The friend draws distinctions between Siddhartha's theory and the Buddha's. Siddhartha says that its all quibbling over words. Siddhartha learned more from the Buddha's posture and grace, and after years of listening to the river, the friend could visibly see that Siddhartha was a holy man on par with the Buddha.
Ah, just read the fucking book. Live your life -- it is almost always better to do something than to spend time figuring out what to do. Then, after you have done it for a while, reflect and see if it is the right thing to do.
On February 11 2012 03:29 Mr. Black wrote: Oh my friends -- do I see myself in thee.
First, Wohmfg -- Chef was not saying that things are meaningful because you do them. He is saying that looking back in retrospect on a varied life (not just once on your deathbed, but as a matter of course) let's you separate the tripe from the treasure.
It is better for a philosopher to look back on a life where you went out and tried a lot of things, won and lost, etc. and then to reflect on the deepest questions than to try to do the reverse -- there's a reason most great philosophers wrote their best works as old men (or invalids) -- they had lived these varied lives and then wanted to share their ideas.
I have a BA (or a BS--I can't remember) in philosophy. In many ways, I am glad that I did it because it raised a lot of questions and gave me an opportunity to think more deeply about various things. However, after a few years of spending the majority of my time in research and contemplation over the ultimate questions (what to do, what to believe, who to be) I realized that my youth was passing and I was not taking advantage of it.
I agree that the "unexamined life is not worth living" (Socrates ftw). But so to is the "life of perpetual examination." You cannot tell what is the right way to live without trying new things.
Hermann Hesse's 'Siddartha' makes this point beautifully. A boy (Siddhartha) and his best friend leave their homes as upper class kids to go study asceticism in the woods, where they learn deep meditation. After some time, they leave to try another path. They come across the Buddha and listen to his teachings. The friend becomes a Buddhist and follows the Buddha as a monk for the rest of his life. The boy does not (though he agrees with the Buddha's teachings). Over the course of several years, the boy goes on to romance a courtesan, make money in commerce, get fat on rich foods, become addicted to gambling and drinking and eventually experiences a deep despair. He ends up attempting to drown himself in a river. At this point he is a fat middle-aged man. He decides not to kill himself and becomes an apprentice ferry-raft operator to a crazy old man whose religion is to "listen to the river." He finds that he has a child and his lover dies in his arms. The child, a miserable spoiled brat, quickly grows tired of living with "two old banana eaters" in a tiny shack and runs away. The crazy old man happily walks into the forest to die. Over the course of more years, Siddartha begins to hear the voice of the river. One day an old buddhist monk crosses the river on the ferry. Siddhartha recognizes his best friend from his youth. The friend is still striving to understand the buddha's teachings and reconcile them with his own thoughts and desires. Siddhartha explains that teachings and theories are useless -- Siddhartha was taught that drinking and gambling were bad, but he did not know this until he was a drunkard and a gambler. Siddhartha expresses a grand theory of time that he learned from listening to the river, that all things that are or ever were simply are. The friend draws distinctions between Siddhartha's theory and the Buddha's. Siddhartha says that its all quibbling over words. Siddhartha learned more from the Buddha's posture and grace, and after years of listening to the river, the friend could visibly see that Siddhartha was a holy man on par with the Buddha.
Ah, just read the fucking book. Live your life -- it is almost always better to do something than to spend time figuring out what to do. Then, after you have done it for a while, reflect and see if it is the right thing to do.
Nice post. I agree very much that experiencing life is very important and valuable. But how did I reach that concluson? By spending a long long time contemplating it. My point is that you need balance between self reflection and experiences, but it's better to at least have some self reflection before you jump into life blindly. Even if the best self reflection comes after a lot of experience, as you say. Just my opinion.
Somewhere just past the veil of idiotic materialism there is life so rich and fulfilling it almost makes you dizzy. Fuck, fight, sing, run, climb, scream, read, listen, smoke, drink, work, invent, paint, destroy. Enjoy pain and failure, they are awesome experiences. Meet people, hate them, love them, argue and laugh with them people are fucking hilarious and wise and retarded and awesome. There's just so much of it, I can't even fathom the poor retards who need to fill the gaping void in their empty souls with consumption they are the true tragedy of the modern age.
Oh, and you can examine stuff when you're an old geezer with a bad bladder. Go out and live, life rocks!
On February 11 2012 03:29 Mr. Black wrote: Oh my friends -- do I see myself in thee.
First, Wohmfg -- Chef was not saying that things are meaningful because you do them. He is saying that looking back in retrospect on a varied life (not just once on your deathbed, but as a matter of course) let's you separate the tripe from the treasure.
It is better for a philosopher to look back on a life where you went out and tried a lot of things, won and lost, etc. and then to reflect on the deepest questions than to try to do the reverse -- there's a reason most great philosophers wrote their best works as old men (or invalids) -- they had lived these varied lives and then wanted to share their ideas.
I have a BA (or a BS--I can't remember) in philosophy. In many ways, I am glad that I did it because it raised a lot of questions and gave me an opportunity to think more deeply about various things. However, after a few years of spending the majority of my time in research and contemplation over the ultimate questions (what to do, what to believe, who to be) I realized that my youth was passing and I was not taking advantage of it.
I agree that the "unexamined life is not worth living" (Socrates ftw). But so to is the "life of perpetual examination." You cannot tell what is the right way to live without trying new things.
Hermann Hesse's 'Siddartha' makes this point beautifully. A boy (Siddhartha) and his best friend leave their homes as upper class kids to go study asceticism in the woods, where they learn deep meditation. After some time, they leave to try another path. They come across the Buddha and listen to his teachings. The friend becomes a Buddhist and follows the Buddha as a monk for the rest of his life. The boy does not (though he agrees with the Buddha's teachings). Over the course of several years, the boy goes on to romance a courtesan, make money in commerce, get fat on rich foods, become addicted to gambling and drinking and eventually experiences a deep despair. He ends up attempting to drown himself in a river. At this point he is a fat middle-aged man. He decides not to kill himself and becomes an apprentice ferry-raft operator to a crazy old man whose religion is to "listen to the river." He finds that he has a child and his lover dies in his arms. The child, a miserable spoiled brat, quickly grows tired of living with "two old banana eaters" in a tiny shack and runs away. The crazy old man happily walks into the forest to die. Over the course of more years, Siddartha begins to hear the voice of the river. One day an old buddhist monk crosses the river on the ferry. Siddhartha recognizes his best friend from his youth. The friend is still striving to understand the buddha's teachings and reconcile them with his own thoughts and desires. Siddhartha explains that teachings and theories are useless -- Siddhartha was taught that drinking and gambling were bad, but he did not know this until he was a drunkard and a gambler. Siddhartha expresses a grand theory of time that he learned from listening to the river, that all things that are or ever were simply are. The friend draws distinctions between Siddhartha's theory and the Buddha's. Siddhartha says that its all quibbling over words. Siddhartha learned more from the Buddha's posture and grace, and after years of listening to the river, the friend could visibly see that Siddhartha was a holy man on par with the Buddha.
Ah, just read the fucking book. Live your life -- it is almost always better to do something than to spend time figuring out what to do. Then, after you have done it for a while, reflect and see if it is the right thing to do.
Nice post. I agree very much that experiencing life is very important and valuable. But how did I reach that concluson? By spending a long long time contemplating it. My point is that you need balance between self reflection and experiences, but it's better to at least have some self reflection before you jump into life blindly. Even if the best self reflection comes after a lot of experience, as you say. Just my opinion.
EPT
