Catie has a fishbowl. Well, to be more precise, she has two. They’re identical, and almost look like flower vases. Inside each one is a fish, one red and one blue. One of them is named lovelove, and I forget the other ones name. The reason they can’t be together is because they’re Fighting Oscars and they would fight to the death if they were placed in the same tank. Quite unfortunate. Standing in Catie’s immaculate kitchen, looking at the fish, I think about the life of a fish. Is it better, I inquire of my friend, to live in a nice safe tank-or is it a glass prison?- or is it better to be free in the ocean where anyone can swim up and eat you? Is a safe yet impenetrable bubble the definition of a good life for a fish? With flakes to eat every day? I’m not sure if they’re a delicacy, but at least its a regular meal, right? Or would noname and lovelove prefer to swim free, killing other fish as they see fit? Does a fish have enough consciousness to realize that it could be killed by someone bigger and stronger at any moment? I guess what I really mean is… is it better to live a mediocre life in a protective shell that you create for you and you alone or is it worth it to swim with everyone else, opening yourself to wonderful things along as the painful truths of reality? I think I choose the latter. I think. I hope. I think that I think too much.
You’re thinking too much. Put down the philosophy and do it. =p
(for the record: better the ocean than the fishbowl. Even if a fish probably doesn’t notice the difference)
You think a fish doesn’t know the difference?! Hm… something to ponder. If it did know the difference would it spend half of the day running into the glass? Is it doing that by accident or trying to get out? I’d like to think that maybe it understands that it’s living in a highly defined habitat though.
Sha, it’s a *fish*. By the time it’s crossed the tank it’s forgotten it started from a wall on the other side. Even if I’m underestimating a fish’s memory here, it’s long since forgotten anything else (even if it wasn’t born in an aquarium to start with).
So does that mean I’m in a fishbowl too? Of course, on a bigger scale but a bowl nonetheless? Am I creating my own boundaries and living within a bubble of perceived safety? It’s very possible…
Quite possibly. You don’t have any proof you didn’t just start from the wall on the other side. But if you are, there’s probably not much you can do about it so it’s not really worth thinking about.
I was once asked “If you have a man shut in a box, with false but perfect sensory input fed into his brain such that he thinks he’s really in the simulation, with no control over what happens, only the illusion thereof, is his life worse than yours or mine?” In an entire room of Oxbridge applicants, I was the only one who argued he doesn’t because he knows nothing else, believes he has free will, and thus experiences the same as we do.
*argued his life isn’t worse. Dammit.
Wow, meant to comment on this a while ago.
That mediocre life isn’t worth it. You see all those people around you? Yeah, the faceless people going through the motions, not even causing a ripple in the ocean of life? They’re the ones who settled for mediocrity.
Go wild. Just… do. All the time you spend wondering whether you should or not, somebody else already did it and had a fucking blast, even if it ended badly (as things sometimes do).
As far as the fishbowl… damn near everyone has a fishbowl of one sort or another. Some are generally accepted, some will cripple you for your entire life. The important thing is to figure out which fishbowls are worth jumping out of. (Hint: most of them).
Oh sqube…. you’re the greatest. Thats all I really can say.
I’ve spent my share of time experiencing ups and downs followed by lulls of mediocrity.
I’d suggest not necessarily choosing either one; but a combination of both. I wouldn’t give having my schedule crammed full of things to do – even if it’s just classes and work – for anything, but at the same time, sometimes you just need to sit around and do nothing, too.
If you ever someone you can do both those things with, hang on to them. They’re few and far between.
Nice blog, btw.