Reflection to Moby Dick (quotes) - Assignment Example

Reflection to Moby Dick There go two daft ones now,’ muttered the old Manxman. ‘One daft with strength, the other daft with weakness. But here’s the end of the rotten line—all dripping, too (Melville, 952).Life has a way of making people equal, regardless of their strengths or weaknesses in different aspects of life. One person might be poor and the other one might be rich, but all of them are balanced by the fact that they can neither guarantee their tomorrow nor attain absolute happiness.

Everyone must always have a concern, no matter the affluence of the poverty that such a person dwells in. I have observed that there are different ways of making fun and enjoying happiness, but one thing that no one can be able to devise is the method of creating happiness in its absoluteness, such that one can live a life that is free from all concerns, needs or wants. Every day that humans wake up, they wake up to solve some issues, concerns problems or needs. The reason we go to school is because we want to attain knowledge and have a better future through accessing good jobs.

The reasons the lecturers and instructors teach is because they need to impart knowledge to students and also to earn a living out of it. If we wake up one day and decide to sit and enjoy the breeze of the wind and the sand on the beaches, there will be a moment of thought and even concern regarding how life would be fun if we lived it by the beach without work, need for money and other basic human needs. Therefore, as the strong daft and the weak daft in the quote above have the same destiny in that both ends up dripping, so does human life make all people equal; in that they cannot attain absolute happiness.

With books the same. The truest of all men was the Man of Sorrows, and the truest of all books is Solomon’s, and Ecclesiastes is the fine hammered steel of woe. ‘All is vanity.’ ALL (784).I find it true that there is wisdom in sorrow than there is in happiness. Sorrow takes the heart deeper into reflection, and the results of the reflection are more insightful and full of knowledge than there ever is in happiness. Happiness is a state of the mind that rids the body of any thoughts or concerns, and instead replaces the same with folly and the attitude of “don’t care”, which in the end might see people entering into trouble and regrets.

Throughout life, there is no time I ever made a decision and then regret it, if I was not in the mood of happiness. The decisions that have positively impacted life are those that people make when they are sorrowful, disturbed or deeply reflecting upon certain occurrences in their lives or surrounding. Let us for example consider the process of writing the book of Ecclesiastes by King Solomon. It must have been written as a result of intense thought sessions that were definitely not characterized by happiness, but by the mere attempt to understand happiness.

Solomon first discovered that there was no absolute happiness in the life of man, since either way there shall always be a cause for concern. Anybody engraved with happiness and the more pursuit of it would have never got an opportunity to make such insightful observation of life, since happiness blinds people from the reality of life, and instead causes them to live as though life has no problems. The effect is that virtually no wisdom would then come with happiness. But savages are strange beings; at times you do not know exactly how to take them.

At first they are overawing; their calm self collectedness of simplicity seems a Socratic wisdom (110).Simplicity is a concept that is a little hard to understand, since with simplicity, comes the aspect of wisdom that is neither displayed nor hidden. The wisdom of those who are bold, sophisticated and civilized is openly seen in their mannerisms, but the wisdom of those who are considered to be savages is highly complex to put a finger at. The wisdom of Mahtama Gandhi is one that has always amused me, owing to the fact that he was a man of simplicity with advocacy methods that seemed to be less civilized and at times considered to be primitive and inconsequential, but the outcome has taught the world a lesson about non-violent means of advocacy.

It is through the simplicity of Mahtama Gandhi that I am able to understand that holding diverse opinion regarding different issues does not mean lack of friendship, for any form of friendship that seeks an agreement on all matters in not true friendship. The simplicity displayed by Mahtama Gandhi while advocating for independence of India could be regarded as savagery or cowardice, since he advocated for the adoption of very unconventional means of noncooperation, yet the situation demanded that the people take up arms and fight against the colonial oppression.

Simplicity instead demands that one does not show feelings to the extremes, whether of hate or love, but that one may maintain calmness under such circumstances. It is this form of wisdom that is difficult to understand, and resonates well with the quote above. Works CitedMelville, Herman. Moby Dick. Planet PDF E-Books, 2001. 1-1047. Print.