February 19, 2009

To be or not to be


Six famous words

"To be or not to be"
Outside the Bible, these six words are the most famous in all the literature of the world.

They were spoken by Hamlet when he was thinking aloud,

and they are the most famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet was speaking not

only for himself but also for every thinking man and woman. To be or not to be,

to live or not to live, to live richly and abundantly and eagerly,

or to live dully and meanly and scarcely. A philosopher once wanted to know

whether he was alive or not, which is a good question for everyone to put to himself occasionally.

He answered it by saying: "I think, therefore am."

But the best definition of existence ever saw did another philosopher who said:

"To be is to be in relations." If this true, then the more relations a living thing has,

the more it is alive. To live abundantly means simply to increase the range and

intensity of our relations. Unfortunately we are so constituted that we get to love our routine.

But apart from our regular occupation how much are we alive?

If you are interest-ed only in your regular occupation, you are alive only to that extent.

So far as other things are concerned--poetry and prose, music, pictures, sports, unselfish friendships,

politics, international affairs--you are dead. Contrariwise,

it is true that every time you acquire a new interest--even more,

a new accomplishment--you increase your power of life. No one who is deeply interested in a

large variety of subjects can remain un-happy, the real pessimist is the person who has lost interest.

Bacon said that a man dies as often as he loses a friend. But we gain new life by contacts,

new friends. What is supremely true of living objects is only less true of ideas,

which are also alive. Where your thoughts are, there will your live be also.

If your thoughts are confined only to your business, only to your physical welfare,

only to the narrow circle of the town in which you live,

then you live in a narrow cir-conscribed life.

But if you are interested in what is going on in China, then you are living in China~

if you’re interested in the characters of a good novel, then you are living with

those highly interesting people, if you listen intently to fine music,

you are away from your immediate surroundings and living in a world of passion and imagination.

To be or not to be--to live intensely and richly, merely to exist,

that depends on ourselves. Let widen and intensify our relations. While we live, let live!




Timoty

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  • 1樓

    1樓搶頭香

    Sealed

  • Sealed at February 24, 2009 01:48 AM comment
  • 2樓

    2樓頸推

    阿七你的想法很新儒家呢!
    一般人以為荀子覺得人性本惡,孟子人性本善,其實也只是看事
    情的角度不同!因為荀子是結果論,(人會做壞事)孟子是唯心
    論!(人都會有惻隱之心)做與不做,就是為善不為善吧?孔子
    也不覺得有人是聖人,大家都會犯錯,只是知錯與否?不貳過與
    否?我個人思想也偏好儒家,行為像道家^^
    你可以去看看倫語這本書,下村湖人的倫語故事寫得很有趣,你
    可以翻翻看!

    *下次打中文啦!我英文爆爛!!(((((((淚奔

  • Emily at February 24, 2009 02:28 AM comment
  • 3樓

    3樓坐沙發

    小霖不錯~很值得的朋友^^"因為我夠瞭解妳~你的為人~~
    我懂就好~不管未來你會到那裡我都祝福你~還好在工作上面有你
    這麼嘛吉~不然我不知道該怎麼辦了 哈哈~"~

  • SHOW at February 24, 2009 11:54 PM comment | email
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