Something for you to think about....I love philosophical discussions:
This is a quote from a sailing book I'm reading, the guy is describing his
drive to circumnavigate the world. He dreamed about it for 25 years before
doing a two year trip. The book is "The Breath of Angels" by John Beattie.
Butch Evans
P-15 "Top Banana"
Xanwar1@aol.com
"If we don't die young, we usually end up leading a life of subdued
frustration and get stuck in a groove, but the only difference between a
groove and being in the grave is one of depth. Along the way to that grave in
the comfortable groove, you might get a new car or a greenhouse or, if you
really hit the big time, a holiday home - but these things are palliatives,
the opiate of a materialistic lifestyle that is impoverished through lack of
meaning. I wasn't interested in the trappings of material success - all they
lead to is entrapment in spiritual failure - and the conventional rewards of
career advancement meant nothing to me. With each passing year, I knew I
would become more enfeebled and the mad passions of youth would give way to
the cautious sobriety of middle age. Whatever happened, I didn't want to end
up slumped in an armchair in an old people's home looking back on a life of
comfortable but frustrated existence.
I also knew the world is a big, beautiful place, and I wanted to experience as
much of it as I could in the split second of eternity that was allocated to
me. I had seen too many friends die young to wait any longer to fulfill my
dream. Life is too precious to be squandered in denying dreams, even if they
turned out to be sour. I was determined to try and take hold of my life and
squeeze every drop out of it. There is no God, no meaning, no purpose - all
we have is love and existential experience. The sea was where I might lose
one but where I knew I would find the other."