Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Aiming well

Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself.
-- Joel Hawes

... But on the other hand you won't hit anything.
-- Stobblehouse

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Update: This is just me making fun of a poor metaphor. I have always been one for aiming at the stars, often to the degree of forgetting about Earth altogether.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You don't reach anything but you'll enjoy the beauty of the motion,the admiration of the world and of the beautiful actions you can perform inside it it's also a purpose by itself.If all our actions would be precise chasing a particular purpose,we'll be robos no human beings which have the priceless gift to make the choice to let the poetry to come inside their lifes.
With great admiration and gratitude,yours Paul Alexandru Cazacliu artmanro@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Unless the sun is right overhead. Then you may hit yourself. and die. Also if you're aiming at the sun long enough you risk permanent eye injury or blindness. Stop spending so much time with the bow and arrows, get a job, a life and make something worthwhile with your life instead of some would be sunmurderer! What'd go do if you do hit the sun? Do you have any idea how hard it'd be to mount it over the fireplace?

Monsieur Beep! said...

I think the author wants to insinuate that reaching for such brilliant objects like the sun, though they are unreachable, will give us a better insight in things happening around us, here at ground level.
It's in fact the key point to understanding all human scientific explorations. Without scientific arrows reaching out we would still be at the same level as our ancestors.

laurie said...

Have the holy audacity to aim most high . . . . .

Me too, Eolake, re. leaving the Earth. It's taken me many years (lifetimes?) to learn to incarnate my vision. The place of completion is here. I have far too long held the thought (I speak for myself now), "I am not needed here." I have to learn to open my mouth, even when I don't feel heard. People with vision mustn't feel crushed, mustn't allow it.

Anonymous said...

"What'd go do if you do hit the sun?"
Not to mention the cost of going up there to replace such a big broken lightbulb! I have enough bills already, thank you very much.

"People with vision..."
Sometimes, I feel like my enthusiastic dreams are immodest. And then I think : "Hey, if I'm not just getting full of myself here, what's wrong with having them?" It's just like if Eolake had the idea for the Domai site, and suddenly realized how hugely popular the idea could be... while he did it for the love of the idea. Which he did.
[P.S.: Eolake, don't forget that date with Bàhi you promised me if I "spontaneously" said that.]
Just kidding! ;o)

Fame might be a sometimes undesirable side-effect of accomplishment (for those that don't make fame their GOAL), but sometimes it's also a nice indicator that you've managed to do well. People might remember you by saying "he/she's reached the stars", and it'll mean in reality that you've had a great journey getting there.

There are also reverse examples. Mother Teresa has "reached the sun" by constantly, day after day, aiming to simply lift unfortunate others above the ground into the light. I don't need any stupid "official miracles" to call that woman a saint! She already displayed the miracle of love, which is the greatest of them all.

Near my house, there are anthills. On the paths of the ants, everytime an ant met a useless organic obstacle, it put it aside. Now their pathways look like highways, and we SHOVEL the heaps they've put aside to use as compost. Modest aim, big results.

I think the essential aim is to have your heart in the right place.
(That'd be between left ribs 4 and 7.) ;-D

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Actually I didn't have a big vision for Domai. But a couple months after I made it, it was still at tiny, free site, my web host suddenly told me I had five thousand visitors per day, and we needed to talk about hosting fees. :)

Anonymous said...

Does this mean I'll have to pay Bàhi the restaurant myself?
<:-O

"Aww, maaan!" -- (Swiper, kleptomaniac fox)

Anonymous said...

Adam,

You've just made me reconsider about the Laughter/Talmud thread.
Your (quite ovserving) comment gave me a cracked rib.

Oy, G.od, it hurts! Bwahahahhhaaaah!

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

If you mounted the sun over your fireplace, nobody in the whole street would need a fire.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yeah, that's what makes it funny. You started it! :)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

"That will teach you to laugh at religious wisdom, literally."

Ah, a correct use of "literally"!
And funny too, and subtle, well done.

Anonymous said...

Well, this too much laughter only hurt my body. It did good to my soul.

I think I'll aim at resting them both now. The sun can wait. (I'm sure by tomorrow it'll still be there.)