Earl_of_Rochester

"but it is not that which can convince me, dear friend--life and death are what convince.
What convinces is when one sees a being dear to one, bound up with one's
own life, before whom one was to blame and had hoped to make it right"
(Prince Andrew's voice trembled and he turned away), "and suddenly that
being is seized with pain, suffers, and ceases to exist.... Why? It
cannot be that there is no answer. And I believe there is.... That's
what convinces, that is what has convinced me," said Prince Andrew.

"Yes, yes, of course," said Pierre, "isn't that what I'm saying?"

"No. All I say is that it is not argument that convinces me of the
necessity of a future life, but this: when you go hand in hand with
someone and all at once that person vanishes there, into nowhere, and
you yourself are left facing that abyss, and look in. And I have looked
in...."


- War & Peace, Tolstoy




To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes Calamity of so long life:
For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of time,
The Oppressor's wrong, the proud man's Contumely,
The pangs of despised Love, the Law’s delay,
The insolence of Office, and the Spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his Quietus make
With a bare Bodkin? Who would Fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered Country, from whose bourn
No Traveller returns, Puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.
Thus Conscience does make Cowards of us all,


Hamlet, Shakespeare






A morbid subject perhaps, but in a world where the death of everything we hold dear is inevitable, including ourselves, how can we continue to live without despair? How can we dare to waste a moment when time is all important? A philosophy most people miss until it's too late I think.

Brisieis

First of all, we accept that this is what life is, we accept we do not know when we will die and that our moments are indeed precious. Once we have accepted these things (which can be quite hard in reality as most people prefer to live in denial) then we can move onto being more contented with our lives or making moves to change it for the better. If we cannot change certain aspects of our lives, then we have to look to ourselves and why we feel unhappy. Life can be awful but it can be fantastic too. The way I deal with such thoughts is, appreciation, like when I go for a walk and I am surrounded by nature, I love it, I adore gazing at the stars in the night sky, all these simple things content me.

Nice poems by the way.

Earl_of_Rochester

The first one is a philosophical conversation and the second is a soliloquy from Hamlet where Hamlet's having a quiet moment of reflection.

It's interesting that these thoughts of mortality still dwell on people throughout the centuries and even though they're dead and gone their words speak through to us with all the hopes, fears and dreams that we still hold true so many years later. It's almost like we're reading over their shoulder and communicating with ghosts.

Brisieis

I feel the same reading literature from thousands of years ago, let alone hundreds of years.

tjadams

When we are children, we see the world through innocent children's eyes.
When we are adults, we see the world through experienced adult eyes.
We know life is short, we know all that we have will one day be gone.
When one can realize all these things about life and death, then one
can begin living their life to their happiest and don't dwell on the inevitable.
It is those who do dwell on it, that want to make others as miserable
as they are.

Fireatwill

The thoughts of suicide has only one psychological meaning.

The old personality/ego/persona whatever you might call it needs to die and the person needs to change or they will die.

This is it. One cannot fight nature and fighting mortality is fighting nature.

Louise C

Death is the price we pay for living. Somebody said nobody knows why we are born or why we die, the only thing to do is enjoy the interval. I find that quite sensible. Now is what matters.

Lokayata

Live life pursuing happiness, considering that life is everything. As long as we aren't dead we aren't dead and when we're dead we're dead.

As Epicurus said, "Death is nothing to us: for that which is dissolved is without sensation; and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us." Epicurus's writing really is rather brilliant, especially given that he lived 2300 years ago.

Nature contents me as well. The simplicity and beauty. I'm of the opinion that everything just is, and nature reflects this well. Humans get too caught up in purpose...the natural world is perfect because it has no "purpose," it just is.

Brisieis

I absolutely agree.

I have learnt in life that it is the simple things that I should value the most, this keeps me happy and content, and if I become greedy, then I just need to look for more interesting places to walk or to think about a really interesting book that I want to read. Because it is hard to enhance what is already freely available for my enjoyment. Greed and vanity do not drive my life, but, these things could have easily pulled me into this mindset, if it were not for circumstance, I may well be the opposite of what I am today. I am happy as I am.

Lokayata

I've found the same. I am happy with health, freedom, and the wind in the trees or the sun on my arm. I love simplicity.