Robbie Burns: To A Mouse

 

 

TO A MOUSE

ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST WITH THE PLOUGH, NOVEMBER, 1785

by: Robert Burns (1759-1796)

I

 

EE, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,

Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

Wi' bickering brattle!

I was be laith to rin an' chase thee,

Wi' murd'ring pattle!

 

II

 

I'm truly sorry man's dominion

Has broken Nature's social union,

An' justifies that ill opinion

Which makes thee startle

At me, thy poor, earth-born companion

An' fellow-mortal!

 

III

 

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;

What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!

A daimen-icker in a thrave

'S a sma' request;

I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,

And never miss't!

 

IV

 

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!

Its silly wa's the win's are strewin!

An' naething, now, to big a new ane,

O' foggage green!

An' bleak December's winds ensuin,

Baith snell an' keen!

 

V

 

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,

An' weary winter comin fast,

An' cozie here, beneath the blast,

Thou thought to dwell,

Till crash! the cruel coulter past

Out thro' thy cell.

 

VI

 

That wee bit heap o' leaves an stibble,

Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!

Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,

But house or hald,

To thole the winter's sleety dribble,

An' cranreuch cauld!

 

VII

 

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft a-gley,

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

For promis'd joy!

 

VIII

 

Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!

The present only toucheth thee:

But och! I backward cast my e'e,

On prospects drear!

An' forward, tho' I cannot see,

I guess an' fear!

"To a Mouse" is reprinted from English Poems. Ed. Edward Chauncey Baldwin & Harry G. Paul. New York: American Book Company, 1908.

 Source:
 http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/to_a_mouse.html

  

 Robert Burns by Alexander Nasmyth
(By permission of the National Galleries of Scotland) 

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh: "I'd like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart"


How a genius feels: "I'm a nonentity, an eccentric, an unpleasant person"


March 30th is the birthday of Vincent van Gogh, born in Holland in 1853, a famous painter and also great letter-writer. His letters were lively, engaging, and passionate; they also frequently reflect his struggles with bipolar disorder.

He wrote: "What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

He wrote thousands of letters to his brother Theo over the course of his life. Theo's widow published the van Gogh's letters to her husband in 1913.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

Plato Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)  

Image source: Vincent van Gogh's 1890 painting At Eternity's Gate. Wikipedia, public domain.

Needs an attitude adjustment...

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it.

 - Mary Engelbreit

Filosofizing Frank Filosofer

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra

The Way You Wear Your Hat (1997)

The Way You Wear Your Hat : Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin' (1997) by Bill Zehme

• I'm supposed to have a Ph.D. on the subject of women. But the truth is I've flunked more often than not. I'm very fond of women; I admire them. But, like all men, I don't understand them.

• For years I've nursed a secret desire to spend the Fourth of July in a double hammock with a swingin' redheaded broad ... but I could never find me a double hammock.

• Fear is the enemy of logic.

• The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.

• [On religion] I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, benzedrine or a bottle of Jack Daniel's.

Cormac McCarthy Quote

My friend sent a note that caught my attention:

"I'm now reading 'The Crossing" - another one of his tales of the west, the south west US. It takes place in the 1930's. 16 year old Billy Parham captures a she wolf that has been killing his family's cattle. But instead of killing it, he takes it back to the mountains of Mexico. I love his spare, economical prose and his ability to capture regional speaking rythyms. Eg,"

"You Married?
No sir. I ain't but sixteen.
Don't get married. Women are crazy.
Yessir.
You'll think you've found one that ain't but guess what?
What?
She will be too.
Yessir."

Women are ruinous to your health.

Beginner's Mind

Sit down before facts like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion.  Follow humbly whatever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.
- T.H. Huxley

Life and Strife: What is the meaning of life?

Making life meaningful:

• The importance of life is to live it to the full.

• According to me the point of life is happiness. We all are trying to find a place where we are happy, be it by earning money or fame or getting married. Even a person who commits suicide is trying to be happy, thinking that it will end his misery. So I think, the point of life is to stay as happy as possible in any given circumstance and to create a better tommorrow for ourselves.

• The meaning of life is to grow physically, mentally and spiritually. It's about traveling down different paths of your life and making decisions. You will make some mistakes, as all of us do. We learn from them and grow stronger. It's about being true to yourself, standing alone sometimes when you really believe in something and not fearing retribution. It means to love those around you, help where you can, be known as a person that can be trusted and just do the best you can. If we didn't feel sadness we could never experience happiness; if we didn't get angry on occasion we would never know peace, and if we didn't trust our hearts we'd never know love. Yes, it's about pro-creating, but life is much more than that if you open your eyes, ears and heart and listen!

• The point of life lies in the question of whether or not you are just living to die. Because every breath of life you take, you come one breath closer to death. So the time you spend bothered by what could or should be is time wasted in imagination and fantasy.

• A person who cannot find contentment, cannot find peace. A person, who cannot find peace, cannot find fulfillment. Prosperity, Power and Popularity are not the solutions to human suffering, because you may have them all and still feel incomplete. There are many prosperous, powerful and popular individuals who need mind altering drugs and other freaky activities to keep them excited, and still aren't content. 
  
  Finding your purpose therefore will be determined by your ability to appreciate every moment by making the most positive use of it because every breath of life you take you are one breath closer to death. So live right and do good always enjoy the existence you have now and if you awaken and realize that this was all a dream, then make it a sweet dream.

• Life's meaning is what it means to you! What do you value in your life? Everyone has there own meaning and there own perception of life. Britannica says it's the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual, one or more aspects of the process of living, or a way or manner of "living". The meaning of life, to me, is to live life anyway I choose.

• The meaning of life is to make life meaningful.

• To live

• Many people believe that there is no "point" per se to life; life simply exists, and the meaning of an individual's life is up to the individual. 

 

Religious views:

 

Christian views:

• The true meaning of life is to love and serve God.

• Perhaps the true meaning of life is to find peace with God. For most people it is impossible to believe in God because it doesn't make any scientific sense for such an entity to exist. But to others the "Big bang" as a cause for the creation of the universe might be equally difficult to believe in. To find God is peace. To find God, you need Jesus, because he can free you from your sins. But while we're alive on this Earth, we might as well try our best to have a good life and be the best we can be, as long as we stay true to ourselves.

• The meaning of life is to take care of our planet. To be hard working and serve God. To help out in fixing communities - that's what life is about; you should not live only for fun but help others enjoy life too.

• If you believe in the Bible, the meaning of life is Jesus Christ, because He is the only one that defeated death.

• To understand the meaning of life we have to turn to the source, or creator. If you believe in such things, that is God. If he put us here, it was for a purpose. So He may be the only one able to provide us with the answer. Some people will acknowledge that everything we need to know about the purpose of life and about God himself is found in one book, the Bible.

• If you believe in the Bible, the meaning of life is in God's inspired words: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9:23.

• Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Fear God and obey His commandments for this is the whole duty of man."

• I believe it's to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

• Any Christian should know the purpose of life is simple: to serve God. Any Christian who doesn't know this needs to build up their relationship with God; He'll show you all you need to know.

 

Buddhism:

• In Buddism, the meaning of life is found in the "true insight" of Enlightenment, which is called a "perfect peace".

• The point (purpose) of life for each individual depends on his/her beliefs and values. The choices people make are usually dependent on the psychological conditioning they are exposed to, from the moment of foetal conception, to the point of completion of their social/cultural programming. This social/cultural programming is similar to the programming of a computer's processor with data that is considered to be factual. The computer then compares all incoming data against its programmed intelligence, in order to generate a conclusion. Similarly the human intellect processes incoming data based on the morals/values they have been conditioned with. Some of these morals/values are inherited from genetic sources and the others are learnt from the environment to which the absorptive mind is exposed.

• A humanist would say we each make our own meaning by the way we live. The meaning is whatever meaning/purpose you care to assign to it... or none at all. If you have a religion, you could find meaning there; a particular philosophy, ditto. If you're a nihilist, you might conclude that there is no meaning at all.

• We, being animals, the meaning of life is to reproduce ourselves to continue the species. All the other stuff is just to make it interesting.

• One aspect to enjoying being alive is considering how incredibly complex the function of your body is and how it is difficult to believe that we consist of billions of living cells that allow us our senses and work literally like they were programmed, just to keep us alive.

• The meaning of life is to utilize our main driving force, curiosity, without which none of us would even exist. Discover and find out new things. Space travel, for example, will lead to great new discoveries - including life near and far from us.

• The meaning of life - to learn from mistakes. Without mistakes no one ever really learns how to live.

• No one really knows the answer to this. Philosophers and religionists have been debating it for thousands of years.

• I think that there is absolutely no point in life. God does not seem real, so we are all going to die without an afterlife.

• I don't believe in God. I think eating pie and watching football is good enough for me 
  
• Live fast and die young. 
  
• The meaning of life, of the universe, and of everything is 42.

• The irony in life these days is that, in order to find it's meaning, you merely have to Google it.

• Dictionary.com states the meaning of life is: "The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism."

• To tell you the truth, I don't think anyone knows the true meaning of life. People say that the only way to know the true meaning of life is to live a full life with many near death experiences, then God tells you an instant after you have died. If you have a complex enough mind, and when God wants us to know, he will tell someone after they die and let that person be revived to tell the rest of the human race. If that never happens then we will just have to live life with many questions and as best we can. That's what God wants us to do. That's one way to look at it.

• The meaning of life is that we exist, that we are products of a force called creation, and that we should all support and affiliate with that force in every one of it's manifestations. The difference between life and the inanimate is that life has consciousness.

• The Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

• No one knows the meaning of life, some choose God, some choose self or try to be God. Life is full of discovery and to give you a little hint on discovery try thinking outside the media. I recommend studying quantum physics or learning more about the superstring theory or the chaos theory. Everything is composed of waves, sound waves ranging at all frequencies, you could almost say that we are just a wave in this world seeking complete harmony.

• The true meaning of life is for humans to conquer the universe (and if they exist, multiverses) so that humans can rule everything forever.

• Living with a meaning: " To be the eyes and ears and conscience of the Creator of the Universe, you fool." - Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions.

• Purity.

• There is no meaning of life. Nobody asks to be born, but you're here anyway. Make the best of things while you're here. If your life needs meaning, then join a cause.

• To appreciate the beauty and amazing things going on around us on the Earth that was originally intended for us to enjoy. Since it is no longer entirely in that pure state, we have the job to care for what does remain and, more importantly, to point others to the time when it will be possible to live in a truly perfect place once more through what Christ has done to enable us to be there if we choose.

• Life is what you make it. The meaning of life is not the same for everyone. Your life has one meaning, the life of another person will have another meaning, and my life will have another meaning too. You are the one to give meaning to your life by making something of it. Every person is allowed to live their life as they want to. Find the way you want to live your life and live it like that. Be happy. Be healthy. Be loved.

• For me, although I'm just seventeen and have my whole life ahead, life has shown me that whatever I put in, I get out., That means for all the effort I put into something, I will get something out of it, I will be rewarded in some way. I tend to live naturally, to love, to learn ,and to help, I tend to love knowledge, because it makes me satisfied, it makes me know how things work, it makes me build up ideas and have something to say. It makes me know how to listen, how to talk and spread my ideas. I think the meaning of life is to understand how it is best suited for you and how it will make you satisfied, happy, successful and loved. But one thing I can guarantee: no one out there will tell you the meaning of life, nor the meaning of your life for you will have to find that out by yourself. Take it as a challenge. After all, you wouldn't be asking that if you already knew it, or if mostly everyone knew it... 

• What is the meaning of life has been an age old question since the beginning of time and it's like trying to define the meaning of love. You can make your life to be what you want it to be, within reason, and you don't have to become famous or rich to do it. Some of the most successful people have been those who gave without question, such as a teacher that cares about his/her students and makes a difference, or a doctor, a mother, father, a person with disabilities of their own, etc. One can volunteer for people, children or pets and ease some of the suffering of all. I live by rule of thumb ... when you are lucky financially (that's just keeping your head above water) and even though you may be limping through life, you should always give back to those less fortunate. One day you just never know when you'll need someone there for you too. This makes your mind, body and soul one. It gives you a source of peace when the world around you is going mad.

• According to Douglas Adams the answer would be 42. But put science fiction aside! Look at the smaller, less complicated life species, they live just to live. More complicated life species live and help keep other life alive. We, as humans, should live to be alive and help others be alive. Taken a step further, life is about experience; one should live to experience ones own life and the life of others. (But do not try live through another person's life). 

• Consider this when trying to understand the meaning of your own life. An old guy once told me that the meaning of life was survival. I thought he was crazy, but as I get older, I think that the crazy guy may have something.

• The answer to life is being. It is all anything has ever done, it is all anything will ever do.

• What is the meaning of life is finding the answer to the following questions: Who am I? Where am I? Why am I? The meaning of life to you is dependent on your value system. Your particular set of morals/values are those that you inherited from genetic sources and from the environment within which you were raise. The meaning of life for you depends on your belief systems. Who are you? Are you an organism that was created from a chemical combination of other organisms? Are you just living to die or is there an existence beyond this body that was created from organic digestion (the food you eat)? Are you an absolute entity called a soul? What gives all of matter its intelligence? Where do atomic and subatomic (nano) particles get their intelligence? Can something be created from nothing? Why are you here? Did you have a choice in the matter? Does your existence have a purpose? Do you add value to the universe? Are you a link in the cosmic chain of evolution/creation? Where are you? Are you resting on a bed somewhere dreaming all of this? Do you know that you are dreaming when you are dreaming? How do you know that it was all a dream (illusion/virtual-reality)? Are you a speck of dust in a massive cosmic sphere?

• To die and multiply. 

• Many great minds have pondered 'what is the meaning of life' and it basically comes down to each individual and what their needs are. Some people enjoy peace, living on a farm or ranch, while others want to hit the big cities for careers, investments, etc., but we all have to make ourselves happy and feel fulfilled no matter what and I doubt that most humans will ever totally attain that. There will always be some regrets. We should be kind, considerate to our fellow man. We should have some belief system of higher power. We should know good from evil and help those that can't help themselves. We should not constantly feel powerful over another, but be humble enough to know where help is needed. That's power! We all do the best we can and learn from our mistakes because, quite simply put, humans on earth are on a 'learning ground' and thus, we learn, make mistakes, learn from them (hopefully) and do the best we can.

• The "meaning" of life is a test. This is only a test. Our life here is so brief yet our spirits are eternal. The "purpose" of life is to choose whom you will be loyal to. Either you will show yourself willing to live under the rule of the God of the Universe or you will choose to live as a slave to self and to sin. 

• The only reason I know for life is that it's a test that we have to pass the right way for reward in the life hereafter.

• Evolution has determined that the point of life is to reproduce and to be the most successful species. that is the meaning of life for all creatures. If it was not their point in life that species would've died off long ago. (mainly it is the urge to pass along your own genes).

• Life is to just live. We should enjoy each and every moments. If you are suffering from a problem, really you are great. The problem came to you because you can solve the same and come up in life.At every situation remember one thing...This present is not permanent. It may be either a sad time or a good one. Follow these tips :1. Do not vex if sad,2. do not enjoy to the core when in joy 3. share your feelings to ur beloved. both sad and sweet 4. when you grow respect others 5. Maintain patience at any cost Last but not least,6. You should know that there are thousands of people suffering a lot more than you. 

• The meaning of life is that God created us and loves us, and wants us to know and love Him, and to join Him in Heaven one day. He has created the way for us to do so, by sending Jesus His Son to die for our sins. Now we can receive Him as our Lord and Savior and have a new life in Him on earth, and one day join Him in Heaven.

• The meaning of life is to live until you die, and to change the world in some little way -- no matter how unknown you are. You have to give your own life meaning and not rely on someone else's opinion to give you one. 

• According to Douglas Adams, the real meaning of life is 42.

• The answer is the question what is the meaning of life: We as organisms of infinitely complex chains of chemical reactions truly designed through creativity, formed by atoms attracted by neutral chemical compositions, actually interpret ourselves, the universe, and the atoms we consist of to ask these kind of questions. There is no question that the only thing that keeps us alive is the flow and exchange of electrons. The integration of god and morals is still a question of, right or wrong, what do we do, what do we not do; relatively, why are we here or why are we not here. Life is not just humans interpreting their surroundings; trees through inter-cellular communication interpret gravity and the location of the sun. And just as the tree stretches out for the sunlight, we as humans reach out for each other and strive for knowledge and meaning. In this way, life is a necessary outcome in the displacement of energy and completes necessary chains of events. "Life" allows these necessary connections in the flow and displacement through forms of energy; as humans, as trees, as the flow of a river or the explosion of a volcano. This interpretation, communication, and ultimately exchange, could be said is the meaning of life. The atoms, quarks, muons and gluons that we as humans consist of can indirectly, through many exchanges and chemical reactions, interpret the direct energy displacement of other prominent metabolisms of energy (like other humans) and other things that effect the chemical reactions through communication of light, sound, pressure, and temperature. This is why we are "conscious". Every atom is either repelled or attracted to each other; the fact that this occurs means that every atom is effected, or "conscious", of another. The exchange of electrons with another atom and change in composition, are the same echanges occuring in our brains to make "conscious" decisions and interpretations.

• I've got two theories. There is no meaning but of what you make it like some of you may be to have kids, find a lover, climb a mountain that stuff The other theory is that it is change. Meaning nothing lasts forever accept change, one day I will die, the worms will eat me a bird will eat that it will reproduce yadahyadah. What I mean is there is always a sate of change nothing will last forever everything hangs on a tip of a knife the balance always changing.

• There are a lot of answers to what is the maning of life and they are all so detailed, but too detailed so they miss the point. The meaning of life/purpose in basic terms: 1. to acknowledge a Creator of the universe and all 2. to know He's one and only 3. to know He watches your very moves to see if you do good in life hoping for your success in life 4. to give praise to Him, so He can praise you back 5. to obey HIS book of wisdom, The Torah of succeeding with perfection. For a Jew obey the 613 mitzvoth of the Torah, for a non-Jew to obey the 7 laws of Noah and this will make you gain perfection opening a spot for you in heavens glory. 

• Life's meaning is having fun and living through the bad times and good times and that makes you the person you are.

• The meaning of life is to live it to its fullest and stop trying to figure everything out. Life is short enjoy it while you can!

• The meaning of life is simple - reproduce.

• The meaning of live is to live forever. 

• The meaning of life for everyone on earth is to reproduce so that the human race lives forever.

• The meaning of life is to contemplate questions like this. 

• What is the meaning of life is what it means to you.

• Life is like a test. God wants to see what you can do, and if you do good things in life and help others.

• To live the life of Gods creation and Gods painting of life. 

• The purpose of life is to serve your soul's purpose as a human. 

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