What are you supposed to do in life?

Val ~

Late Beethoven certainly is virtual proof that "music is a greater revelation than philosophy" and I'm sure you know who said that! It's a perfect affirmation that music is at least as powerful to thought and well-being as any literature ever written. But it's strange that you would name THAT sonata, the most difficult and abstract in all of Beethoven's 32. I have at least 4 versions of #29 and Gilels is indeed among the greatest of it's "enunciators". It's a sea you swim in and some swim better than others but I wouldn't want to give the impression that there aren't other "aural" philosophies equal to it and perhaps some that even go beyond! Those would be personal choices which depend completely on one's amenability to music and the means to extract the semaphores of the ultra-verbal.

I think you are going to regret not finishing college if you have the opportunity. Many people with potential to go to college can't for many reasons. They would like to be in your shoes to benefit from a college education. Education of your own mind is invaluable.

Accumulate as few regrets as possible.

Who's not finishing college?

I'm not sure which college you are attending, but students that miss most lectures will not do well or flunk out.

Amen to that, C.I.. It's not just the sleeping but the attitude that permits sleeping in class. One simply has to study first and then play. One MUST never play first and suffer the anxiety, repressed or not, that they are sabotaging their academic career. I played a lot during my college years, but I always did so with a clear conscience because I studied first. I used to go into exam rooms with an almost haughty attitude, I was so prepared. I can't imagine going to college without that attitude. It would be too conflicted and painful.

I do go to most lectures, I've just missed a lot this last term. But my grades are fine, and there's no chance of them kicking me out because they don't take a register in lectures, so they don't know if I miss them. I definitely want a good degree and I am interested in the subjects I'm doing, but I'm putting play before work this year because this year doesn't count towards my degree, it's just a qualifying year, and there's no chance of me failing it. I cope quite well with the anxiety I get from 'sabotaging my academic carreer' - I'm definitely going to pull my socks up at some point though and take the subject seriously, otherwise I'll have a dull life after university.

agrote, I'm not sure what you mean by "a qualifying year" in college, because it's the first time I've heard of it. If you know for sure there's no chance of failing it, then it makes me wonder what kind of college you are attending. You seem confident about your educational future, so we must take your word for it. Your's is a unique situation most of us are unfamiliar with.

It's not unique, it's a standard British university course. To pass the qualifying year, you just need to gain 40% of the marks in each module, which is so easy (providing I actually do the work) that there's no chance of me not passing. If you pass the qualifying year, then you can go on to the second and third years, in which you work towards your actual degree. Sorry I wasn't clear...

Anyway, this isn't supposed to be about me.

It wasn't clear, and I was responding as an American educated in our country, the USA. If it isn't about you, then I misunderstood your first post 100 percent. Sorry.

Me too, Agrote. I still stand by the principles I asserted. But they apply most practically to the American university system. You folks apparently are given more "leeway." Good luck with your classes.

Agrote

The first thing you must absolutely do is to make a decision.................About the rest of your life. No one can help you with this. I think right now you're just an observer in life.........you can start by deciding if you want to remain an observer or if you want to be a participant.

Righto.

Not too Swift

I don't see it as abstract. The Adagio can be seen as a "pilgrimage of the soul". There are moments when I, a not theist or religious person, feel near some kind of transcendency I cannot express in words. But that applies also to the Largo e mesto of the 7th Sonata or the Largo of the 15th Quartet.

My apologies if this has been suggested already, I did the scan thing and then got to the end quickly.

I wish I'd asked this of someone when I was much younger but c'est la vie.

Sometimes I have to give career advice. I ask the person "when you retire what do you want to have achieved?"

This might sound a bit morbid but perhaps I can extend it.

"When - assuming you expire of old age in your bed - you are on your deathbed, what do you want to have achieved?"

I'm not one of those people who plan much (perhaps I should have) and sometimes I'm quite surprised at the turns my life has taken and continues to take. In some ways that enhances the mystery of life. I was once asked by a business aquaintance when I (accidentally) scored a very senior position in an organisation what my goals were. I was stunned. I had to bluster a bit and basically my answer was - to my embarrassment - that I didn't have any specific ones. Somehow "enjoying myself" seemed a bit lame. But it was true.

Anyway just some thoughts. As someone said earlier, "to thine own self be true." Follow your heart but let your brain have a say now and then.

Are you in the right thread, val?



That's a tough one. I'm not sure I'm that bothered about what I have done, or will have done. I'm more interested in what I do, or will do.

I think society tells you what you are 'supposed'
to do in life. What you actually do, and whether you conform or not to those expectations, is another matter.

Val ~

You're right! Feelings of transcendency and their unspoken allegories are not to be argued with. You have exceptional taste!

Goodfielder, you asked:
"when you retire what do you want to have achieved?"
When one retires he or she should have developed the skills to be retired enjoyably..

You also asked:
"When - assuming you expire of old age in your bed - you are on your deathbed, what do you want to have achieved?"

One should have the ability to die well, without regrets or resistance--to let go completely.

nobody

I think that when I die, I'll have more problems to think than my past life. Present life will be more important, since there will be no future.
No life is justified when we will face the eternal nothing.
I would like to say, like the dying soldier in a Bergman's movie: I'll go, but under protest!