As soon as the cave man progressed to the point where he ceased living in terror
of the animals, the weather and all the gods he thought controlled his daily
life, he started thinking about his life and what it meant. It took thousands of years
before he started thinking about life in general, and invented the great game of
philosophy.
Since the conception of language and the thousands of technical refinements that
brought us to the printed page, mankind has written much about this mysterious
force. English scholars have noted that, if you play with word you can see
there are two obvious words encrypted in those four letters: "lie" and "if."
Others have noted that "evil" is "live" spelled backwards. That is a great
opening for the conspiracy crowd!
For the past thirty years I have collected the unusual or odd definitions of
words. At the moment, my collection consists of over 5,000 of these
definitions. It is interesting to note that "life" has 44 definition -- one
of the most defined words in my collection.
Here are many of these definitions......
Optimists have defined life as good because it gives most of us something to
do. Some people with rosy glasses consider it is a road that is smoothed by
the friendships we make along the way. Another person said that living is at
its happiest stage when your children have grown to the age when you no longer
have to pretend you know everything. A twist of that same thought is that it
is something that really doesn't begin at conception -- it begins when the last
kid leaves home and the dog dies. A more religious way of viewing our daily
life is that it is the only treasure a man possesses; those who do not love
it do not deserve it. On the other hand, you can look at it as something too
important to talk seriously about, or too important a subject to be taken
seriously.
On the other hand, we have the pessimists view of life's dark side. For
example, life might be considered a sexually transmitted disease -- which is
100% fatal. Or, is a process with three problems: you can't win, you can't
get even, and -- worst of all -- the law now says you can't even quit the
game! Or, taking the simpler view, it is just "one darned thing after
another." You can also take the broad view as the pessimist sees it: as exactly
like a broken pencil -- pointless.
The scientists have their views too. Dark popular psychology sees life as a
two-stage process -- where the first half is ruined by our parents and the
second by our children. After "one of those days," a parent might look at
living as a constant struggle to make ends meet -- it starts at birth with a
baby's effort to get his toes in his mouth. Grim sociologists consider
this process as a maze in which there are found many more wrong turns than
there are right ones. Computer scientists consider life as a process
which would be so simple, if only someone could find the manual.
Of course, you can well look at life as a continuous learning process. How
about considering life as a grindstone. Whether it grinds you down or
polishes you up, depends upon what you're made of. Or, in the same vein, it
can be considered as something that many say is "a grind." If so, the wise use
it to sharpen their wits. A deeper way of looking at it is to consider it as
a mirror that never reflects one thing more than what we are.
There is always the "wise guy" approach. He's the fellow who says that life
is "a game," best played with marked cards. This is the same fellow who
may look at life as one dodge after another -- cars, taxes, and
responsibilities! Then, again, it can be viewed philosophically, and can be
considered to be like a can of sardines -- and we're all looking for the key.
Wiseguys are not always men. Take the female slant that life is a game where
men know the rules but women always win because they know the score. Another
feminine view is that living is a contract with at least 3 strings attached
-- apron, heart, and purse. Then, the socially-minded can consider life as a
party -- where you arrive after it has begun, and depart before it has ended.
Artistically, life can be considered to be like a beautiful painting, for the
nearer you get to it, the more you realize it is just a series of fine
points. The literature buff might consider life as a many-chaptered book
-- except that there are a few parts you may not want read out loud! Then,
there is the musicians' view that it is like playing the violin before an
audience of critics -- and learning the instrument as you go on.
When you reach the geezer age, one tends to look at life as something which
usually gives a man money to burn after the fire has gone out, or can be
considered as nothing but a long lesson in humility. Or, life is like an
onion, you peel off layer after layer and then you find there is nothing in
it. How about considering life as one long process of getting tired? Or, to put a positive
spin on that idea, you might consider life as something that happens when you
can't get to sleep -- ergo, insomniacs live life to a greater degree.
In closing, you must take your pick at the definition that best suites your
temperament. I have two favorites. The first is that it is a *dream* for the
wise, a *game* for the fool, a *comedy* for the rich, and a *tragedy* for the
poor. The second is: coping with life is easier to take than you think. All
you have to do is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and
bear the intolerable. But, no matter how you feel about it, we all must agree
that life is the process which happens to us while we are making other plans.
This article is compiled from "Quinn's Devious Dictionary"
by Lee Daniel Quinn, email address: words@iop.com
Also, you might considering checking out the following URLs:
http://206.20.13.1/~words
http://206.20.13.1/~words/epigrams