Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Shakespeare
To be, or not to be: that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them?
Isaac Asimov
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.
Epicurus
Thus that which is the most awful of evils, death, is nothing to us, since when we exist there is no death, and when there is death we do not exist.
Bible Reference
For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,A time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,A time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Monday, January 14, 2008
Into the Wild
-"One of his two notes is a plea for help, addressed to anyone who might come upon the camp while the hiker searched the surrounding area for food. The second not bids the world goodbye"
-"Everything had changed suddenly -the tone, the moral climage; you didn't know what to think, whom to listen to. As if all your life you had been led by the hand like a small child and suddenly you were on your own, you had t olearn to walk by yourself. There was not one around, neither familiy nor people whose judgement you respected. At such a time you felt the need of committing yourself to somethign absolute - life or trutht or beauty - of being ruled bvy it in place of the man-made rules that had been discarded. You needed to surrender to some such ultimate purpose more fully, more unreservedly than you had ever done in the old familiar, peaceful days, int the old life that was not abolished and gone for good."
-"I grew up exuberant in body but with a nervy, craving mind. It was wanting something more, somethign tangible. It sought for reality intensely, always as if it were not there..."+
-In regard to nature: "I didn't yet appreciate its terrible finalty or the havoc it could wreak on those who'd entrusted the deceased with their hearts"
-"I am reborn. This is my dawn. Real life has just begun. Deliberate Living: Conscious attention to the basics of life, and a constant attention to your immediate environment and its concerns, example --> A job, a task, a book; anything requiring efficient concentration (Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you)."
-"A life of frequent concerns that the next interception may not work, that the trap or the drive will fail, or that the herds will not appear this season. Above all, the life of a hunter carries wit hit the threat of deprivation and death by starvation" (and yet there are many who continue)
-"Now what is history? It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That's why people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves, that's why they write symphonies. Now, you can't advance in this direction without a certain faith. You can't make such discoveries without spiritual equipment. And the basic elements of this equipment are in the Gospels. What are they? To begin with, love one's neighbor, which is the supreme form of vital energy. Once it fills the heart of man it has to overflow and spend itself. And then the two basic ideals of modern man - without them he is unthinkable - the idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice"
-"DAY 100! MADE IT! BUT IN WEAKEST CONDITION OF LIFE. DEATH LOOMS AS SERIOUS THREAT."
-"Death's a fierce meadowlark: but to die having made
Something more equal to the centuries
Than muscle and bone, is mostly to shed weakness.
The mountains are dead stone, the people
Admire or hate their stature, their insolent quietness,
The mountains are not softened or troubled
And a few dead men's thoughts have the same temper."
-"I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!"
-"Everything had changed suddenly -the tone, the moral climage; you didn't know what to think, whom to listen to. As if all your life you had been led by the hand like a small child and suddenly you were on your own, you had t olearn to walk by yourself. There was not one around, neither familiy nor people whose judgement you respected. At such a time you felt the need of committing yourself to somethign absolute - life or trutht or beauty - of being ruled bvy it in place of the man-made rules that had been discarded. You needed to surrender to some such ultimate purpose more fully, more unreservedly than you had ever done in the old familiar, peaceful days, int the old life that was not abolished and gone for good."
-"I grew up exuberant in body but with a nervy, craving mind. It was wanting something more, somethign tangible. It sought for reality intensely, always as if it were not there..."+
-In regard to nature: "I didn't yet appreciate its terrible finalty or the havoc it could wreak on those who'd entrusted the deceased with their hearts"
-"I am reborn. This is my dawn. Real life has just begun. Deliberate Living: Conscious attention to the basics of life, and a constant attention to your immediate environment and its concerns, example --> A job, a task, a book; anything requiring efficient concentration (Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you)."
-"A life of frequent concerns that the next interception may not work, that the trap or the drive will fail, or that the herds will not appear this season. Above all, the life of a hunter carries wit hit the threat of deprivation and death by starvation" (and yet there are many who continue)
-"Now what is history? It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That's why people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves, that's why they write symphonies. Now, you can't advance in this direction without a certain faith. You can't make such discoveries without spiritual equipment. And the basic elements of this equipment are in the Gospels. What are they? To begin with, love one's neighbor, which is the supreme form of vital energy. Once it fills the heart of man it has to overflow and spend itself. And then the two basic ideals of modern man - without them he is unthinkable - the idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice"
-"DAY 100! MADE IT! BUT IN WEAKEST CONDITION OF LIFE. DEATH LOOMS AS SERIOUS THREAT."
-"Death's a fierce meadowlark: but to die having made
Something more equal to the centuries
Than muscle and bone, is mostly to shed weakness.
The mountains are dead stone, the people
Admire or hate their stature, their insolent quietness,
The mountains are not softened or troubled
And a few dead men's thoughts have the same temper."
-"I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!"
Crime and Punishment
-Alonya and Lizaveta dying (Raskolnikov's personal first hand experience with death: he confesses his part in it, but only after an internal struggle to find his purpose; whether it be superhuman and a transcendent of law or a simple man.
-Death of the mare (fear of death or the creating of death because of its brutality)
-"a feeling akin to that of a dead man upon suddenly receiving his pardon" (whether death is feared or not, there is always an element of relief when it is avoided)
-Svidrigailov seeing the ghost of his dead wife (death as something that haunts those who are still alive when the death was caused by those still living)
-Raising of Lazarus (individuals like Sonya who have the ability to stop unnecessary death)
-Katerina's death (example of delirium before death and the hysterics proceeding the end)
-Death of the mare (fear of death or the creating of death because of its brutality)
-"a feeling akin to that of a dead man upon suddenly receiving his pardon" (whether death is feared or not, there is always an element of relief when it is avoided)
-Svidrigailov seeing the ghost of his dead wife (death as something that haunts those who are still alive when the death was caused by those still living)
-Raising of Lazarus (individuals like Sonya who have the ability to stop unnecessary death)
-Katerina's death (example of delirium before death and the hysterics proceeding the end)
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