[lit-ideas] Re: The meaning of life
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:57:12 +0900
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald
John
On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 9:39 AM, Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thanks again. There is a fair amount of correspondence between the Omar of
> old times on Phil-Lit and me, though the issues of personal identity are as
> we know not simple. Speaking of drinking:
>
> *YUSUFALI:* They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them is
> great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the
> profit." They ask thee how much they are to spend; Say: "What is beyond your
> needs." Thus doth Allah Make clear to you His Signs: In order that ye may
> consider-
>
>
> *A Drinking Song*
>
> WINE comes in at the mouth
> And love comes in at the eye;
> That's all we shall know for truth
> Before we grow old and die.
> I lift the glass to my mouth,
> I look at you, and I sigh.
>
> *William Butler Yeats*
>
>
> --- On *Thu, 11/27/08, wokshevs@xxxxxx <wokshevs@xxxxxx>* wrote:
>
> From: wokshevs@xxxxxx <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The meaning of life
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Omar Kusturica" <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Thursday, November 27, 2008, 7:10 PM
>
>
> I am so much older now, my mind is weaker and memory more feeble. But surely
> this must be the Omar of old times on Phil-Lit. Who else would offer a
> quotation from one of Kant's favourite drinking buddies and moral
> confreres? I
> echo Robert's sentiment wholeheartedly: Welcome back, Omar!
>
> May the community in this pub provide you with captivating philosophical
> reflection for the mind, some occasional comic relief from your trials and
> tribulations, and soothing balm for the heart and soul of a lover of truth and
> rightness.
>
> Walter O
>
>
> Quoting Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>:
>
> > Only tangentially related to the recent threads, but still:
> >
> > http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/suicide/
> >
> > There are references to Kant and others, but this quote struck me:
> >
> > When a man's circumstances contain a preponderance of things in
> accordance
> > with nature, it is appropriate for him to remain alive; when he possesses
> or
> > sees in prospect a majority of the contrary things, it is appropriate for
> him
> > to depart from life…. Even for the foolish, who are also miserable, it
> is
> > appropriate for them to remain alive if they possess a predominance of
> those
> > things which we pronounce to be in accordance with nature. (Cicero, III,
> > 60–61)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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>
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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