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yoyo52 · Mar 30, 2001, 01:49 AM

A pretty ambitious heading, isn't it?

Anyway, I've been reading Gulliver's Travels for my 18th-century lit class (by the way, one of the best classes I've had in a loooong time), and we came across the wonderful image in Book 2, where Gulliver, intending to impress his Brobdignagian girl-keeper, tries to leap over a cow pat, lands right in the middle of it, and then has to wade through to the other side. We generally agreed with the critical sense of the scene, that it represents Swift's views of life as a load of sh!t through which we have to travel in order to get to the other sh!t that awaits us, namely death. That's why one of the great critical works on Swift is called "the excremental vision."

So I got to wondering, what do people here think about life--a load of excrement or a rose-scented path?

AlbertWu · Mar 30, 2001, 01:52 AM

It is a very slim chance that intelligent life evolved here. Human lives are short compared to the other things in the Universe. We should make the most of it. Focus on what you truly want to do. Only if you achieve that goal will your life have meaning when you look back on it.
If you spend your life worring about bad grades (like me) then you have achieved nothing.

Someone say to me "Practice what you preach!"

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Bored, Albert is.
Speak like Yoda, he will.

Email address of him, [email protected] is.

keekeeree · Mar 30, 2001, 02:03 AM

Ahhh....life...the sh*t that happens to us on the way to our death...

Okay, so other than a simple and cute comeback...what do I think about life...

Well, I think life is what we make of it...we all have sh*t that we have to wade through...the weak ones give up in the middle of the sh*t, the tough ones keep pushing, only to find that there's another pile of sh*t to wade through on the other side. The survivors and the thrivers? The ones who think different (sorry...couldn't resist)? They realize that it's all sh*t early on, and that the only way to survive and to thrive is to make life bow to your own definition...let the small minds fight for the scraps...

In the whole scheme of things...the whole of life is crap....so what to do? Treat yourself with respect...treat others with respect...and move on...

(authors note: this view is subject to change after the effects of sobriety take effect...but not likely...)

Hobbit_Boy · Mar 30, 2001, 02:09 AM

Read "Jude the Obscure" By Thomas Hardy. He pretty much sums up what life is.

Cipher13 · Mar 30, 2001, 03:06 AM

Life is a test, or a contest.
The weak give in and either stop trying, and lose, or kill themselves.
The strong soldier on.
Its an unfair test - some people have it much harder, some people have it easier. Some have handicaps.
The finish line is a death caused by something other than your own devices.

... or some crap like that.

Life is here, and now - do what you will with it, but don't waste it.
It lasts a lifetime for us - theres nothing before it, and nothing after it (ugh, hard to say that cause I'm Catholic and do believe in Heaven, however, I'm not talking 'spiritually').
Our life is our eternity.
Its what you make of it.

Mostly, you're right - its one big load of sh!t after the next. Learn to deal and avoid the sh!t if you can.
Its like a minefield - tread carefully and you'll be ok.

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Cipher13 · Mar 30, 2001, 03:37 AM

Hm... if I may quote a song by a band I dislike apart from this one song:

"Life is a lesson, you learn it when you're through."

"you better stay on top or life will kick you in the ass"

and so on. Its actually a good song (and their only good one).
Take A Look Around, by Limp Bizkit - the Mission Impossible 2 theme.

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Not_Dark_Yet · Mar 30, 2001, 07:20 AM

See into life. Don't just look at it. - ANNE BAXTER

DBursey · Mar 30, 2001, 08:41 AM

Life is an individual journey through one's own slice of time. Time is the greatest teacher; unfortunately it kills each of its students.

That great philosopher, James Taylor, says that 'the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time'. I agree. I don't believe in fate. Life is what you make it. Attitude is the rudder with which we steer our course through good weather and bad.

If I were Gulliver, I'd have skirted around that cow patty. Pretending to be someone you're not can land you in deep doo-doo.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 30, 2001, 09:21 AM

I honestly feel as though our values are completely warped by the media and our society as a whole. You must do something that you like to do, and do it well enough to make you happy. That may coincide with your career (making money to survive) or it might not. You may be a janitor, but that doesn't mean that you can't be the next Woz or Jobs (or whatever field your into).

Here are a few things that one of my professors said the first day of college:
1) Choose your friends wisely (Birds of a feather fly together)
2) Maintain financial balance (Money is the cause and solution of all of life's problems)
3) Take care of your body (It's your vehicle of life, and parts are costly)

I personally found my personal focus after college, but many do much earlier, and some never do...

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Kestral · Mar 30, 2001, 02:15 PM

My piano teacher, who was also a studio musician, used to say:

Life is like a sh!t sandwich, the more bread your have, the less sh!t you have to eat.

Of course, being the smart-ass that I am, I pointed out that even if you increase the amount of bread, you're still eating the same amount of sh!t! lol!

rjenkinson · Mar 30, 2001, 02:20 PM

couldn't you just eat the bread?

-r.

scaught · Mar 30, 2001, 02:32 PM

56. The True Path

Just before Ninakawa passed away the Zen master Ikkyu visited him. "Shall I lead you on?" Ikkyu asked.
Ninakawa replied: "I came here along and I go alone. What help could you be to me?"
Ikkyu answered: "If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and no going."
With his words, Ikkyu had revealed the path so clearly that Ninakawa smiled and passed away.

maxelson · Mar 30, 2001, 02:35 PM

Life's what you make it. Here endeth the lesson.

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Hat, Hat, baby.

yoyo52 · Mar 31, 2001, 12:33 AM

Originally posted by DBursey:

If I were Gulliver, I'd have skirted around that cow patty. Pretending to be someone you're not can land you in deep doo-doo.

Ya know the Travels pretty well, DBursey!

Originally posted by Cipher 13:
Hm... if I may quote a song by a band I dislike apart from this one song:

"Life is a lesson, you learn it when you're through."

"you better stay on top or life will kick you in the ass"

and so on. Its actually a good song (and their only good one).
Take A Look Around, by Limp Bizkit - the Mission Impossible 2 theme.

Or as a friend of mine used to say, "Life's a bitch, and then you die"

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Klaatu borada nicto.

[This message has been edited by yoyo52 (edited 03-30-2001).]