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"the grief should be because of the birth and the joy should be over the death."

Let me put a bold opposite thesis: this life is exactly what we want.

Ok now I'm just confused.

Does this imply that life is whatever you want to make it?

I'm always happy and thankful during those final few minutes before I walk out to perform. Even if I was a nervous wreck in the hours leading up to that.

Speak for yourself : /

By its very nature, being alive is being selfish. And of course, that business about having "life snatched from them" is just one way of seeing things.



Ha!



And what does that have to do with anything I wrote?



Because it doesn't interest me.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't say that I was not happy to be alive, personally, or that I don't have reverence for life - I just want to point out that having generalized expectations about how everyone is "supposed" to understand life is probably a mistake.

taoism and zen is a very closely related subject as they share many of the same philosophies.
I don't see what's funny about the other quote.
How is being alive selfish?
And as with Albert Schweitzer: if it doesn't interest you then very well, it was merely a suggestion

oh, and the whole idea of the taoism was to point out that people who show appreciation for being alive tend live much more fulfilling lives. and thus life is a state of mind

Seeing how I just told folks who are tired of being "Unhappy..... " current marathon thread on the 'piano forum'
and might find some "Happiness" on this thread,
thought I might as well bring it up to the top of the page again so folks can find it...

"Speak for yourself : /"

LOL my thesis says I can't :-)

"Does this imply that life is whatever you want to make it?"

Ummm I just post some thesis, not the consequences... but let me guess some answers for you

I suppose so. Note that "life" in the common use of the word seems to be a mental construct anyway.

Furthermore most people are confused about "what they want" to start with.

very true

Aw shucks...I would love to discuss the meaning of life, but not on a piano forum...however, here's my 2 cents (stolen from another thread)



Speaking of happiness though, another thing that makes me happy is when I hear pieces I can play on the radio (yay, I can actually play stuff that "real" pianists play!)

Ah, you measure your achievements against specialists?
That can also bring depression if you're not careful. When the view is that a certain level of repetoire is the sign of a 'real' pianist, it can quickly make one feel their playing is inadequate - when it is actually quite skilled and pianistic. I'd hate to feel that I'm not a real pianist, because I cannot play the complete Iberia Suite - using an example from recent threads.

Ah I see what you mean there. But I don't think I really "measure" myself...I don't even think about it usually. I enjoy playing piano no matter how hard the piece is I'm playing. Harder doesn't necessarily mean better. I just feel connected to other people who play/listen to the music that I play when I hear it on the radio I guess.

I know what you mean though Mattardo. Was watching Barenboim's masterclass with the weird kid David Kadouch, and he is 22, same age as me. It was depressing, and I'm not just talking about his facial expressions.

When I open my iTunes and listen to my "Classical" play list on shuffle. JOY!

Me too! Except it's my "Ultimate Piano Favorites." Or my "Favorites" playlist, which has stuff from a whole bunch of music styles in it, like Bach, Skillet, Enya, Smetana, and even Taylor Swift!

Oh goodness...that kind of stuff depresses me too. But I think by now I'm used to it. I know I'm not that good at piano and that I don't know much about it, but I accept it and just try to learn. Most of the time.