He had learned long ago that, in general, the easier it was for anxious patients to reach him, the less likely they were to call. (107)
Irvin D. YalomRead
Life is a spark between two identical voids, the darkness before birth and the one after death.
Interpretation
Life is fleeting and exists between two emptinesses, symbolizing the temporary nature of existence.
Irvin D. Yalom's quote captures the essence of life as a transient experience, highlighting that our time on Earth is brief and sandwiched between the nothingness that precedes birth and the void that follows death. It prompts reflection on the significance of life amidst this duality, encouraging a deeper appreciation for our existence and experiences.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a philosophy class discussion on the meaning of life.
He had learned long ago that, in general, the easier it was for anxious patients to reach him, the less likely they were to call. (107)
A curious thought experiment. . . Nietzsche's message to us was to live life in such a way that we would be willing to repeat the same life eternally
A sense of life meaning ensues but cannot be deliberately pursued: life meaning is always a derivative phenomenon that materializes when we have transcended ourselves, when we have forgotten ourselves and become absorbed in someone (or something) outside ourselves
Marriage and its entourage of possession and jealousy enslave the spirit.
It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to provide purpose in life by reproducing another copy of oneself. It is wrong also to seek immortality by spewing one's germ into the future as though sperm contains your consciousness!
I dream of a love that is more than two people craving to possess one another.
That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.
I would say as a journalist, I would envision travelling to other countries that have had to reckon with their past and see how they've done it: what worked, what didn't work, finding characters that would tell the story of how that process was done.
I've wondered why it took us so long to catch on. We saw it, and yet we didn't see it. Or rather we were trained not to see it. Conned perhaps into thinking that the real action was metropolitan and all this was just boring hinterland. It was a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away. I'm looking for the truth." And so it goes away. Puzzling.
Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.
Nothing can happen more beautiful than death.
In the first place, it is to be remembered, that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws. Its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any.
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