I thought this would make a good start for a new post, as I'm always on a learning quest. Spring is in full force here in the Northeast. The sun is shining during the week, the grass is getting greener, trees are in full bloom (almost all of them), and then on the weekend...it rains! Neven mind that. You learn to appreciate the days of sunshine.
Couple of days ago I was running along the Charles, and was observing all these signs of new life when a thought came to me: "What IS life?". Black Uhuru sang "what is life? I tried to see/What is life? It's unity/What is life? I tried to feel/What is life? It's really real". How real is it though? (That begs another question also). So what is life? What are the criteria that define what life is? Let's start there and see where we go. All comments are welcomed.
2 comments:
Okay - my definition of life with some humor comes from the soundtrack of the bizzarely interesting Wim Wenders movie - The Million Dollar Hotel.
The prologue to the song "Never let me go" (by U2 and the MDH Band)
aptly defines life for me:
Wow! after I jumped, it occurred to me -
Life is perfect, life is the best, full of magic, beauty, opportunity, and .. television... and surprises and lots of surprises.. yeah and then there's the best stuff of course, better than anything ever made up - 'cuz it's real
Million apologies if anyone finds these comments on life facetious.
ps: The soundtrack is perhaps the best ever recorded for any movie.
I suppose I should clarify things a little. There are different definitions of life. For instance, "political life", "social life", the period between the time we are born and the time we die. The term "life" can also be ascribed to the beginning of existence (animate or inanimate, or even a concept), as in "she brought to life the concept of...", or "he brought the patient back to life by performing emergency surgery".
This reminds me of the "machine that goes 'Ping'" from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. In that skit, Birth, the troupe satirised the "medicalisation of birth", where mothers lose control of the birth process to the medical professional. Without a doubt, the answer to the question "What is life", according to MP, is that "people aren't wearing enough hats".
But really, what IS life? Does it exist at different levels? Is the life of a plant the same as the life of a human? Obviously our life is on a totally different level than that of a tree, but aren't we both equally alive?
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