Well i'm not much into literature or any of that but I stumbled across this quote and it really inspired me to live for the moment. Everything in this quote is true, or at least what I believe to be true. Please take the time to read the whole quote before responding. "All a man can be sure of is what he gets here on earth. He gets it here or he never gets it at all. Don't comfort yourself that what you have to bear with in life will be made up by felicity in heaven, or that the enemy who harms you will be fittingly punished in hell, for what you get here on earth, whether it's riches or poverty, happiness or sorrow, is all you ever get, and what you want or have merited has nothing to do with it. The pleasant days, the quiet places; the money jingling in the pocket, the cities and countries you would like to see, the things you would like to do--all this you enjoy here on earth or forever go without. There's no making up what you missed, no going back; no triumphs for the long-suffering, no fiery torments for the evildoers. Nobody keeps accounts, and once the worms have finished with them the murderer rests as peacefully as his victim. For there is no God and it doesn't matter how we live or when we die. Our work and our dreams, the good we did, the evil we suffered, the hope we kept alive in our hearts--none of it matters, and our laughter and tears and prayers alike come to no more than the howl of a dog in the night, heard for a moment and then heard no more."
Hows it goin man, it's been a while. What you been up to? Cool to see your still on here, nice post count btw (666)
You're right, that's a very powerful quote, but it's filled with bias . . . Meh, it's an existentialist/nihilistic belief that living for the moment is all one can have. The nihilists specifically believe that even the experience of life is meaningless. Personally, I'm agnostic, but believe in a form of an all powerful being, even if that being manifests itself as an idea or a philosophy or a way of life or all and everything, it still exists. This doesn't necessarily mean a God exists, because that's too encompasing of a personality, rather than an all encompassing personality, spirit, philosophy, mentality, religion, belief, thought, and feeling. Personally I think those things are more God than some guy sitting up in the clouds dishing out orders and commands.
I agree 100% that it's essential to live in the moment, but this guy tries to stress the importance of living for your own desires, while simultaneously claiming that life has no intrisinc value, which is contradictory. Like infiniteawesome said, this is a very nihilistic quote. If you really push the nihilistic logic to it's fullest, then you might as well just stay in your living room all your life since nothing you do will really amount to anything. Even immediate self-fulfilment kind of loses its essence. I think that love is a force that transcends an individual's life. If you live your life in a good an honest way, then not only do I think your immediate existence will be more fulfilling, but the love you've created will go on rippling accross the universe long past your death.
It's an interesting quote and it's very true in some ways but it's a bit off in others. For example, the analogy with the murderer doesn't take into account any OTHER reasons that people do/do not kill. I've never killed anyone because I haven't had to; not because I'm scared of going to Hll.
