“[…] It was a spring that never came,
But we have lived enough to know,
That what we never have remains -
It is the things we have that go.”
- Sara Teasdale
I. It is always the mysterious element in things/people which makes us love them.
II. It is essentially human to try and solve any mistery.
III. It is a naturally human habit to be looking for things/people which/whom we can admire and love.
IV. Possession is the basis of status; status is the basis of admiration; admiration is a fundamental human need.
V. To admire and to be admired - that is our driving motive.
Suddenly he stopped dead. It had merely been a blurred glimpse, but … could it be? Here? Right in the street? He jerked around and there she was: Love. First he could not believe his eyes, could not believe how lucky he was, but then disbelief turned into realisation and, at last, happiness.
A broad smile appeared on his face and he was just about to run after her, when he hasitated. There she was, Love, who he had been looking and longing for all his life. She was standing there a little distance away and it almost seemed as if she was waiting for him. Still not believing his luck he started walking towards her, but when he was halfway there, again he hesitated. A strange feeling had emerged inside of him. Suddenly he was not looking forward to meeting her anymore, was even bored by the thought and slightly irritated … even slightly afraid. He was not sure what to do until Love looked at him and in her eyes he saw expectation, chance - “lifetime chance” - and mistery. He suddenly felt a strong desire to possess her, to make her “his”. So he walked on up to her, confidently, excited, stirred by expectation, chance - “lifetime chance” - and mistery.
They went out together and talked. He got to know her, found less than he had expected and more than he had longed for. He took his chance and experienced her, experience Love.
He soon grew tired of her. Where had all the magic gone, the things that had fascinated him, her divinity, her unreachability? For all his life he had admired her, longed for her. She had always seemed so perfect to him. Now he was bored, saturated by the experience of her. What had happened? Was this The Misery of Life?
The human being is happy when he knows that everyone dies. Ultimately the human being wants only to know that he hasn’t missed out on anything, that other people don’t get a privilege he won’t have. When we realize that everyone has to cash in their chips in the end, we feel a great unity between all men and we no longer concern ourselves with justice and what is deserved, who should suffer, who is the offender, etc. These are the issues that separate us while we are alive, but they shouldn’t endure through the final estimation of man. No one gets out of here alive.
You don’t feel so bad when you realize that everyone dies, and we shouldn’t think that is selfish or impolite.
Misery is an intellectual affection and I am rooting it to the anticipation of death. Once you realize that the dread you experience in life is based on expectations that are not reasonable in the first place; that a person be born and never have to die: is not promised to begin with. I, personally, don’t see how this is so dreadful, if I keep in mind that we all die. I would only become suspicious if I believed that some people can earn immortality during their mortal lives, and this would initiate my resentment and make me anxious in the presence of my fellows. Most of the misery experienced in life involves the shuffling of these uncertainties, who gets to live forever and what should be done to be granted that status. I feel a great relief when I reflect on the fact that we all die, and it puts me closer to man. I feel compasionate toward all life and consider all sentient creatures to be an extended family. The irony here is that this correct morality is endorsed when one admits to oneself that they are happy if everyone dies or if everyone gets to live forever. Its all or none. Death equalizes everything.
The fear of death is a result of religion. Before religion came into being death was something natural … mystic and mystified though, but natural. When religion institutionalised belief and imposed the existence of heaven and hell, it was then when death turned bad and the belief in a life after death a horrid thing to think of.
Sebby stated: 'The fear of death is a result of religion." The fear of death is an instinct - one of the most powerful in the nature. Religion only preying on it. The ancient people who didn’t want to live, eventually didn’t give any descendants. People try to entertain themselves by any means (including philosophy) in order not to commit suicide. Actually, in the young age, the desire to die just manifest some fear of the unknown which future will bring.
“…It was a spring that never came,
But we have lived enough to know,
That what we never have remains -
It is the things we have that go.”
Sara Teasdale
Hey! Sebby, that is so nice, the quote above and so true. It’s what we miss in life that we look back upon and regret about not having gotten or accomplished. Although we seem to be cherishing the good old memories, but the ones that really haunt us are the times where we didn’t act or missed something in life.