crazy philosophical moments

"Let every man in mankind's frailty consider his last day; and let none presume on his good fortune until he find life, at his death, a memory without pain."
-Oedipus Rex (lines 1471-1475)

The last lines of Oedipus Rex are actually quite insightful, expressing the ease with which people seem to take things for granted. Fortune can only be claimed after the fact. In retrospect. Later.

Take Oedipus as an example. So preoccupied with the fruits of his supposed success-- his ascension to the throne, his marriage to the Queen, the reverence of his people-- he lives in ignorance of the truth. He considers himself to be overwhelmingly fortunate, a fact so cruelly untrue. Oedipus's live is certainly not a memory with pain, even if the vast majority of his life was lived in happiness.

It's easy to forget how fragile everything really is. So much of our lives are so fast-paced, so focused on the now-- that pensive moments are few and far between. How often have you really thought about your life-- really thought about it?

Case in point:

I stare at the prompt: "what matters to you and why?" A simple enough question-- should have been simple enough to answer. But I just stare blankly. I've never given it a real thought. What matters to me? Who matters to me? And then the incredibly elusive... What really makes me me? (The incredibly self-discoveries you make with the assistance of college essays...) I still haven't come to a complete conclusion. Life is just too complicated. (Another reason why college essays are impossible).

This was one of those crazy philosophical moments that everyone experiences sometimes--the kind that leaves you to ponder the meaning of life, the reason to live, etc. It's almost like you're not in the present for a moment, absent from the realities of now, focused on the obscurities of the self. It's funny how the more I think about it, the more confused I become. One thing I know for sure-- things are too fragile to take for granted. 

Maybe we should have more crazy philosophical moments. They're so much fun!