Please read p. 175-191 and respond to the following questions:
What is a "terminal illness"? How would your life change if you had a terminal illness? Would you behave differently? Would you do anything different than what you are doing now? Please explain, and please give details and examples.
On p. 185, Soc says, "...you do have a terminal illness: it's called birth! You don't have more than a few years left. No one does!"
What does this quote mean? How does this quote relate to the story about enlightenment on p. 186, and Dan's dream on p. 187?
Please give at least one detail from p. 175-191 when you are answering the questions!
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A “terminal illness” is a disease from which you cannot regain your health: it is a sickness that cause your death. It is tough sayng what I’d do if I have such as illness. At first I sure would be moped and I can’t help crying, then I hope I’d enjoy every single moment of my life. There is a good movie about this that I have seen few days ago: it is named “Stepmom” and it approaches the argument in a very nice mood. Many people think they would spin their life to the excess, doing lavish and extravagant things they have even done before, but I think this isn’t a good manner to enjoy your life. I think I would pass more time with the people I love, with my animals and in my house. Because these are the things that give me happiness and that I would be going to miss. Now I am abroad, far from the things I love, because I am looking forward toward the future, but if I know these is not a future, I wouldn’t be here. Death can come in every moment, but I am already young and healthy, so I’m trying to build my future life. For my past life I am satisfied: I have always worked hardly and obtained my satisfactions, there is nothing that I would change of my past. I hope that, when death comes, I wouldn’t have any regret.
With the quote on p. 185, Socrates means that death can come in every moment, like he has just experienced with the heart attack. “That was a good lesson” for Dan, he says on p.178. He means that you don’t have to waste even a moment of your life, because when death comes it is always too early. And that you have to learn to be happy in every moment, even without a clear reason, but just because you are living. And another great teaching is that “for every strength there is a weakness-and for every weakness, a strength” (p.178). So you have to learn to accept your limits, without gloat too early, and to find a meaning in the bad looking things. “Enlightenment” is just when you stop a moment, here and now, you find relief and you can smile. It is the moment when you “Wake up!” (p.185) and you open your eyes to see the world around you and to enjoy it. Then the life goes forward, with one bright awakening moment after another one. This is what Dan discovers in his dream on p.187: he is looking for a precious jewel into the darkness, he can’t find it and he thinks it would be at the top of the mountain, that is in the hardest place to go to. But then he comes into the bright light and he finds that the jewel is there, that is always been within him, “only his eyes had been closed”.
I researched the meaning of terminal: that cannot be cured and will lead to death, often slowly. This is the general meaning.
Probably, I would be disappointed. And, I would be able to do nothing. That is because I have many what I want to do. So, I would try to think how I could do those things the rest of my life. And, I also would look back my life I had had so far.
However, I might not behave differently. That is because I always try to think what I want to do and how I can achieve that now. So, in this way, I would be disappointed first, and do same thing as before I had a terminal illness.
Soc said “but you are still trapped- still searching. So be it. You shall search until you tire of it.”(p.181, l.7) The author wrote Dan as us. So, I and Dan are also really similar. I realize that my character is to think too much and to search too much. So, if I had a terminal illness, I would still think and search my life and what I want to do. And, according to Soc’s quote, I would die when I was tired that.
In the novel, Soc defined terminal illness to birth. Birth exactly cannot be cured and will lead us to death. We cannot change the fact that we were born already and we are here now. Also, we never avoid death. All people will die someday.
The enlightenment story in the page 186 means that life is to be burdened and death is to be relieved from the burden: also this means the enlightenment. And, Dan’s story in the page 187 means that all people continue their life to find their happiness, but finally they will realize that the happiness has been within them. The quote from the page 185 relates to the story and the dream like this: terminal illness is the burden of the story, and to climb mountain for many years to find the jewel, the happiness, is also terminal illness. So, our burdens and climbing is inevitable and destiny. In addition, those will lead us to death.
A terminal illness is a disease that can not be cured or adequately treated and is reasonable expected to result in the patient’s death. Honestly, of course my life will change if I had a terminal illness and my family either. But the thing is how I face it. If I face the disease with optimistic thoughts probably my time could extend a few days, months or years. Otherwise, if I choose a pessimistic way, all those feelings probably will accelerate the disease. Even though, I would try to enjoy my life until the last moment. The first different thing that I’m going to do is; I won´t be worried about future or other non-valuable things, sometimes I try not to do it but mind is tricky. I´ll give you an example. It is recently, I had 2 surgeries with a month of difference between each other. The first one was a functional nasal surgery. So, it was not my first surgery; my first was when I was 21 days born, but did remember anything about that. I took the decision because I had problem to breathe and my nasal bone looked like an “S”. The thing was; when I was at medical examination my mind started to play tricky games thinking about future “what happen if” and that made me feel so nervous. As a result, my blood pressure was a mess; my heart beat was too accelerated. Also, minutes before entering into the surgery room my blood pressure was increased because I was nervous. The second surgery I was better, I just did like Soc’s said “Let it go” without knowing that. I felt better than before, without worries.
This quote has a specific meaning. Soc had had a heart attack. He knew since years ago he had a heart problem, but he did not stop enjoying life. He told Dan; “if you had a Terminal Illness, Will you waste your last time, acting lethargic”. Dan has to enjoy and be happy about life. Life in only one and we have to enjoy it. The opportunities do not come twice. Time is our enemy. Time has not holidays or vacations. And dead can came suddenly then why waste time. Dan has learned and realized thoughts and actions that Soc taught to him. But he is still looking for a key. That key opens the gate to happiness. But Dan has not realized that that key is inside him, deeper in his heart. My mom always said to me, “why are you looking for diamonds or gold? You are my jewel, you are a jewel”. I mean you have in yourself the key to open the gate to happiness, nobody will tell you how to open the gate. Everybody has a unique way to find their own happiness.
“Terminal illness” means the time limit to do something. Dan has only a little time to find “enlightenment” and he doesn't have to waste his time for finding it. If people have a “terminal illness” and they know the existence of it, they think about their life time and what they have to do or what want to do before the time limit come. Also if I have a “Terminal illness” and I know the existence of it, I always live think about my time limit and do everything what I want to do and what I have to do. Now, I think I waste a lot of time. I don't live every moment that Socrates said and I always think about the past and the future. I always think about them and concern about them. Socrates will say I waste precious little time left to live.
Socrates said “...you do have a terminal illness: it's called birth. You don't have more than a few years. No one does!”. It mean Dan have to hurry to find enlightenment and he doesn't have much time to find it. However, he couldn't find it and he doesn't know how he can find it. In a story of Milarepa, he also looking for an enlightenment and he couldn't find it for long time, but when he met an old man, he felt an old man has an answer of it. When he asked an old man to tell the answer, he swung the heavy burden off his shoulder. Then Milarepa found what it is, It's mean find an enlightenment is after walk for long time with a heavy burden with a lot of feelings or concerns that Soc told Dan to throw away, swing off it and feel free, feel free from these kind of stuffs. Also in Dan's dream, after he climbed the mountain, he found jewel is always within him and the light had always shined. It means that after he trained very hard like climb steep mountain, he finally realized the most important thing to find an enlightenment is always in his body. It is always shining but he didn't realized it after he finished the discipline. These stories relate the quote that Soc said because Dan has a terminal illness and after he found enlightenment, he can rebirth to new person.
I think the meaning of terminal illness is that the illness would kill you or make you lose your life. If I had a terminal illness, of course my life will change, because there is a little time left. Actually, I thought this question before. If I will die, I will use all of my money to travel the entire world with my lover. When I will die, everything is not important for me and the most important is time. Time is my life. I will do all the things which I want to. I don’t care about other people’s opinion or something. I just want to care about myself and just listen to my ideas. I don’t care about past or future. I just care now and here. Now, I’m happy or unhappy. I just want to live happily during the left time. Actually, I think we should regard everyday as the last day. Just do yourself. Don’t waste every single moment. Own yourself life not others’. Maybe we will understand many things which we can’t understand before when we know we will die. But why we will understand until die? We have to awake as early as quickly and have a good life.
I think the meaning of this quote is that I think there are two definition of death. One is body die and the other is old thought die. I think this quote is stand for the second definition. That is meaning when you change your mind and awake up from wrong mind, you will own a new life. So it’s called birth. Dan becomes a peaceful warrior though Soc’s training. So he awakes up and changes his mind. I think the story about enlightenment is that maybe everything is enlightenment. Maybe everything is a jewel. These depend on your eyes. You must learn to find and find everything’s worth. Everything has worth. Maybe everything is a terminal illness. Everything can change your minds and give you new information. Soc taught Dan a good lesson. I think he wanted to tell Dan people will die at every single moment. We have to treasure life. Nobody knows when will die. Maybe is tomorrow. So just do your best in now and here.
First of all, “terminal illness” is the last stage of one illness, and according to this book, it means that we don’t have time enough to do everything, so we should not do something that is meaningless or useless. Also if I had a terminal illness, I should do valuable thing and try to let my life changed into more valuable one. Besides, I would have many opportunities to think of meaning of life and death, and I would want to enjoy my life until the last moment I die. Because of that effort, my life will be more valuable than what it was. For these reasons, I will do different behaviors to compare to ordinary ones as Dan. In the last part of this chapter, Dan realized he didn’t much time and realized what few belongings he had had left, so he decided to go to mountain. Of course, this behavior of him was different from his ordinary one and came from his realization of having been terminal illness named birth and different from usual one. As him, if I had notice terminal illness, I would anything different to try to make my life something meaningful.
Socrates says "...you do have a terminal illness: it's called birth! You don't have more than a few years left. No one does!" This quote means that people are mortal and can die everyday, every time, and every moment. For the fact of facing with death from birth, we don’t have many years and should use the moments left. For example, although Socrates has a heart trouble, he lives his life, in short he is here now, not be afraid of his problem. In according that, the story about enlightenment has very important part that is “the jewel had always been within me” and “Only my eyes had been closed”. That means what I am looking for is inside me. But we can’t notice that because we don’t totally believe that inside me, so we need to open our mind and realize it. I agree with this idea and I think this realization is the enlightenment. Including our inside parts, we are what we are. That is why, his dream and story about enlightenment relate to that because our lives are not immortal, we have to get enlightenment and realization now. Besides, getting enlightenment and realization need action as “Better never begin; once begun, better finish.”
"terminal illness"
a disease which cause the death .
it is very dangerous . the patient feels not only disabled but also sometimes discouraged , because he/she is going to die...
if i had a terminal illness , i would feel : first : disabled ; second:regretable because i didn't take care of my family when i was in a good health,i didn't do anything in the best way i can .
i hoped that there were a magic which help me stronger ...
i would say to my holdhouses that you must esteem your time ...after that i would enjoy every single moment of my life ...
it is tough to think about that situation because i can do it right now.but i almost forget it ...
i like a quote ...: "let us live as we would be going to die tomorrow".and i also try to do everything in the best way if i can ...because maybe tomorrow i would die .
for example : tomorrow i would die ... i'd come back home and enjoy my life with my family...
2 years later i would die , i would try to study english in order to speak with americans and come back VietNam to do charity...
why i don't enjoy my life with my family right now , why i must wait ....
the people always think that they have enough time so that they can do everything later .
for me i will try to do everything right now ... living is never waiting.
p185.be happy now , without reason - or you never will be at all ....because vevery people always think that they have a lot of time , so they can waste precious little of it . but they never know the future ....so Scorate asked Dan : never waste his time ...
dream of Taodzu about the butterfly, Dan in Valley
i think everything is virtual image ... and the concept about the enlightenmant is also virtual image... no one know what it is , how much is enough ... it depends on you and the way you feel ... the story about milarepa who wants to find the happiness , explaining that it is around us ...
187: search of enlightenment :
"better nebver begin; once begun , better finish "because the more you try to find the happiness , the more hardly you can enjoy it " because the enlightenment is virtual imagine .
At first, originally meaning of terminal illness is that a terminal illness or disease causes death, often slowly, and cannot be cured. Actually, we don’t have a lot of time in order to do something what I want. However, most of people don’t realize it, so they often make meaningless time. It’s not help to oneself. If I realized that I have a terminal illness, I’ll try to find the real meaning of my life, and from this, my life can change positively. Imagine that today is the last day in your life. What are you doing today? Most people will do what they really want to do, and every moment has special meaning. So this novel try to say that we have to live our lives meaningful, we have to have a think that like we have terminal illness in our lives. If we do that, we don’t need to consider a lot of things. We just need to concentrate on real meaning of our lives.
Soc says, "...you do have a terminal illness: it's called birth! You don't have more than a few years left. No one does!" it means that people have terminal illness since they are on birth. So that, no one can’t recognize how many years left in their lives. We always face to death by born. We have to do our best every time, ever where. Therefore, we can have a moment of enlightenment. Enlightenment means that the act of enlightening or the state of being enlightened. In order to live better, we have to try to improve our lives. I totally agree whit this. I think that enlightenment related to illumination. Sometimes we find great illumination in everywhere, every time. Therefore, his dream is related to main idea of this novel.
Elyas Mourcy
A “terminal illness” is an an illness that you know will cause your death. It also means that you know the time you will die. If I had a terminal illness, I think I would start to be more good. I would follow the laws of Islam more and try not to do any bad. I would also say sorry to a lot of people that I have ignored in the past. I think that there are a lot of things that I do now that will not get me to heaven, but if I knew I was close to my time for dying, I would be able to motivate myself to do better. One example is I would stop drinking and smoking. I know that this is bad but since I do not know I am going to die soon, I cannot stop. If I did know at what time I would die, I would stop these things.
The quote means that once you are born, you know that you are going to die. This is true because everyone who lives must soon die, thus it is a terminal illness. Saying that someone has a terminal illness means that they are only going to die sooner than the expected lifetime, but all the same, one will still die. This quote relates to the story on page 186 and Dan’s dream on page 187 because they are all three talking about how a person goes about finding enlightenment and how happiness is with a person in their whole life, but that the person has to realize it. In the story, the old man shows that he will continue on his journey with the same burdens even though he has once found enlightenment, but his mind is different. This is the same with Dan’s dream because he was climbing the mountain thinking he did not have the “jewel” (happiness) when all he did have these. When he finally made it to the top of the mountain, he found enlightenment and realized that he had what he was looking for all along.
After experiencing all this and remembering these thoughts and lessons, Dan has his own enlightenment and is finally able to give himself up completely and be free. He sells all his belongings and leaves everything to just be in the mountains alone. This is the best example of Dan realizing that he will one day die and that he needs to find himself.
Actually, terminal illness which Socrates said is not a real disease as we know. Everybody who was born will be died one day. This is real. Keeping in mind that you will die one day is enlightenment.
The main point of this book is unreasonable happiness. I think if people realize that they will die and they don’t have enough time, they want to be happy and they don’t look for any reason to be happy. They don’t waste their time. They want to do useful things for world. Socrates says there is no victory over death. Therefore, people should realize who they are and live happily. For example, think your friend will die one month later, what would you do for him or her? If I am, I would get alone with him and try to make happy him. Like this, if everybody thought that everybody would die one die, I think people would get alone each other so all people would be happy.
If I had a terminal illness and I knew to die one year later, I would become together my all family and I would make it up to people for everything. Further than this, I would not change my life. I would continue to study or work to live as I never die. This makes me happy.
This quote is related to both of story and dream. Dan realized that the jewel had always been within him in his dream. This is enlightenment, too. Actually, “enlightenment is not an attainment, it is a realization” according to Socrates. The story explains enlightenment again. It is to stand straightly across to world. After that, it is to live normally in the world.
There is another realization in this book. First mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers, then mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers, finally mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers again. At the beginning, life is simple when you are a child but it is complex as you live and you learn that it is actually simple and easy to be happy when you are old. I think this is a typical enlightenment.
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