"Weariness was written on Kamala's beautiful face, weariness from continuing along a long path which had no joyous goal, weariness and incipient old age, and conceals and no yet mentioned, perhaps a not yet conscious fear -- fear of the autumn of life, fear of old age, fear of death"
Kamala is having a mid-life crisis. She seems tired of her daily routine and discontent with the way her life is at the moment. I think that is why we can all relate to her. We don't want to be her. We stress about choosing a career path because we don't want to be in our 30's or 40's regretting our decisions. We want to live and be happy with the way our lives our. Kamala also fears aging and death - which I don't know about you, but I fear greatly ((not necessarily being dead but dying - and what, if anything, comes after death)).
Is it possible to evade midlife (or existential) crisis'? If so, how so? What is the best way to live? Is there a best way to live? What role should death play in our lives? Should we fear it, ignore it, acknowledge it??
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I think that midlife crisis comes along as you're living life; you don't really expect it. The best way to live is by letting go of the past and learning from your mistakes so that you can live a bright and successful future. I agree with you on the fear of death but that is a part of life. We might as well make the most of it now so let's live while we're young! đŸ˜‹
ReplyDeleteYeah i agree with you. Although it is something that we will al; have to come to someday, it is still scary thinking of when and how it well happen.
DeleteI agree with absolutely everything you said, Briana. It is apart of life and you can't avoid a midlife crisis so it's best accept it.
Deletebut is it possible to not go through a midlife crisis at all???
DeleteI really like the connection you made about Kamala and her mid life crisis. I guess i never thought about it in that way because when we were first introduced to her, to me she seemed full of life and that she knew what she wanted for herself. Now as the story continuous i begin to see as she decays inside and how it affects her as well as Siddhartha.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me wonder about whether or not it truly affects Siddhartha. He didn't seem to affected by her death.
DeleteI don't think anybody can really avoid the unavoidable. Living in the moment seems to work for some people.You could always just shower yourself with other thoughts and material goods to satisfy you for the time being; although, it's bond to happen. Although, death should be, in some way, common sense in life and the best thing to do is just acknowledge & accept it.
ReplyDeleteDo you think it's possible for /everyone/ to deal with death in that way?
DeleteI don't necessary see everybody thinking to death with in that manner; however, it's just my own bias opinion.
DeleteWell I personally think that there is no way to evade midlife crisis. However maybe you can by living your life with no regrets ((or at least try to not have many)) and also act an not think of the 'what if'. Regarding Death there is no way where you can just completely avoid it because we all know it will happen sooner or later but you just have to no worry until it finally happens.
ReplyDeleteBut if we don't think about the "what if's" wouldn't we be more likely to make imprudent decisions??
DeleteThis reminds me of a discussion from Philosophy class when we were debating over the importance of death in our lives, and what role it should play. In the end, we decided that although fear of death is a natural thing, that fear should be overcome in order to enjoy the present and live a fulfilling life. Worrying about death is pointless, in my opinion, since it is an inescapable human fate. We compared life and death to a book. The characters (us) know that the book has a front and back cover, but its' distance from them is an unknown amount of time away from them, so they don't need to care. They do not need to worry about what happens before or after, because no one knows till it happens. They're living out their lives on every page.
ReplyDeleteYes but when thinking of it from a philosophical stand point it also makes me consider the science behind it. How do we know that when we die the universe still exist or will continue to exist? Is there an after life, if so wouldnt that change how you should act while on earth?
DeleteI think it can be if you're capable of blinding yourself from everything and everyone. How to live, I think that's a matter of opinion because I don't want to offend anyone. For me, death is an illusion of time and what our eyes and minds are limited to seeing and perceiving. Maybe this is the end. Maybe it's just a chapter, then onto hell or heaven or purgatory or another body or the ground. For those who are sure of what's going to happen to you, go ahead and freak out or whatever. But those who don't know should just keep on thinking and living, not much you can do (unless you can think you can do something). ;P
ReplyDeleteI like how you are aware that we will never know for sure yet you encourage people to just think about it because regardless of what might happen there's nothing one can do to change it
DeleteLately in my philosophy class we have been talking about death and one of the questions being asked was "What role should death play in our lives?" As a class, we came up with the conclusion that we should acknowledge death and use it as a motivation to live life to the fullest. I don't think Kamala should stress death, I think she should use it as motivation to be a better person and do things she has never done before.
ReplyDeleteWe talked about this when I had philosophy too and some people answered similarly but this raises the question, what exactly is ""living life to the fullest""?
DeleteI'm not sure we can avoid that as well. We are already stressing now because we want a good future. I'm also not sure if it's possible to live with no regrets.
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