I came upon a sneaky metaphor in this play I was reading that got me all scared. The characters were on a boat bound for England, and they found solace in the fact that a boat is so set and contained, that you can move about the deck or walk down to the gallows for a bit but in the end their final destination was still inexorably set. I started worrying that fate might be like this, that we can wiggle all we want, but short of jumping overboard we're still trapped on the same damn schooner headed west-south-west towards...wherever. What if I want to stay in Denmark damnit?!
Anonymous
01:59:23 PM
16 comments:
Then you jump overboard and swim hard. Either that, or once you get to England, board another boat for Denmark straightaway.
Was the book you were reading, by any chance, Candide by Voltaire?
Why would you want to live in Denmark?
denmarks not a bad place to live. anyway int the long long run i mean way after were all dead then nothing you have done in your life will really matter. And i mean like thousands of year later.
dust in the wind all we are is dust in the wind
"you can move about the deck or walk down to the gallows for a bit"
Um... I believe you mean Galleys, not Gallows.
Maybe?
Oh my god, what I would GIVE to have a boat that was set no matter what I did.
By gallows I meant galleys, by Denmark I meant "alive", and instead of the above drivel I'm sure you guys all meant to type something brilliant and philosophical. We all make mistakes I suppose.
Except for pchis. As usual, yay!
The reason Pchis says that is so he couldn't be held responsible for his own actions.
I agree with him. It's nice. "You murdered that baby."
"don't judge me. it was my fate. I could not escape it."
I believe there is a certain amount of predestination in life. Each of us is predestined towards some purpose. Just try to find out what it is.
Murdering a field of dead babies - DIAGRAM!
(Philosophy Club joke, anybody?)
^ahah!
" The reason Pchis says that is so he couldn't be held responsible for his own actions.
I agree with him. It's nice. "You murdered that baby."
"don't judge me. it was my fate. I could not escape it.""
Haha, actually it's cause I row and those boats are damn hard to set but if you get them perfectly set you can row faster than guys four times your size and strength.
I don't like the idea that people aren't responsible for their actions. I don't believe in free will, but I believe in living as if we had it.
"I don't believe in free will, but I believe in living as if we had it."
So does that make you a liar or a hypocrite?
^ sounds like a neither to me.
i think pchis is saying that the optimistic outlook that comes from a life lived as though we retain free will is far better than having your decisions predicated on an alternatively pessimistic outlook. thus, he doesn't believe that we have free will, but he believes that the decision to live with an optimistic mindset, if possible, within the realm of our own predestination.
Are "illogical" bells ringing above anyone else's head right now? Why bother trying to live optimistically as if your descisions had meaning or morality had any effect if you simultaneously believe they don't? I think 1984 called it double think.
Post a Comment