In the poem "Ithaca," by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, Cavafy says, "Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind,/To arrive there is your ultimate goal./But do not hurry the voyage at all./It is better to let it last for long years."
When we read this poem in class, we discussed Ithaca as a metaphor for death. Respond to the excerpt from the poem, and discuss the importance of seeing life as a journey. How has your life been a journey thus far?
Please read your classmates' comments, and respond to the questions posed in the comment section, as well. Interact!
15 comments:
The importance of seeing life as a journey is so that you don't try to finish your life off so fast. "It is better to let it last for long years" as Cavafy says. My life is a journey so far because I have not finished it yet. I don't really know who I am yet and I think when you are finished with your journey you have figured out who you truley are.
It is important to see life as a journey because that is the point of existence. Life is on big journey where you reach to different elevations or state of minds. Seeing life as a journey sets a goal in your mind that you will want to accomplish by the end of the journey. You do not have to rush through it, but take your time so you can figure out the true meaning of life, your purpose, the reason why you were put on this planet. When you finish the journey, you have all your questions answered and are ready to depart. My life has been a journey so far because i have many questions and things i want to accomplish in my life. I am better off taking the journey slowing but i will reach my destination soon enough. I'm still looking at the themes of life and why they matter. Journeying onward, i will find the answers to the questions i have.
Danielle,
Thanks for getting the comments rolling!
Khushbo (and others), I like the idea of life as an opportunity to have your questions answered. What questions do you deem important?
I think it is important to see life as a journey because life is a jouney. Everyone thinks of a journey as a expedition that has unlimited endings to how it will conclude, and that is how life is. Every decision we make changes our ending sometimes slightly and at times, dramatically. Thinking of life as a journey has positive effects on us because it makes us want to continue our quest and reach our final destination.
Well, according to Dictionary.com, a journey is "The act of traveling from one place to another; a trip." and in essence, life is not just Point A to Point B, from life to death, but you travel mentally from place to place, evolving along the way. You journey through your different states of mind, beginning with curiousity as a child. One discovers their threshold, obtaining answers through age and questions with time. Seeing life as a journey, is seeing life as an adventure, virtually, it doesn't last forever, but in the time we live in, it stretches on, until we end it ourselves (not, of course, suicidally speaking), but more so, "It is better to let it last for long years" (Cavafy). My life has been a journey, in which, I learn as I live. I don't have all the answers, but as life rolls forward, I figure out truer meanings and philosophies; the journey is never complete until the true end, where one has discovered their true meaning in life, and in literal terms, death.
I believe in fate, so this excerpt is important to me because if you are going to end up in that one predestined place anyway, it makes it that much important to take your time getting there. The point in life is not to just get from on place to another. You are meant to learn things along the way, and share you knowledge with others. You should always life your life to the fullest.
Honestly, the important questions would just be, as conceptual and "deep" as it may sound, meanings of life and philosophies. As we live our daily lives with our own mannerisms and lifestlyes, we are able to answer our purpose. The questions we answer are the ones which contribute to the forthcoming of our lives.
"You are meant to learn things along the way, and share your knowledge with others."
Yes! I'm so glad that you mentioned the importance of "others" in the journey.
What part of the "hero's journey" is that?
I believe that the poem is symbolizing life itself, not death. the poem is like school, do not rush through it, take your time and set your mind to a goal that is worth having.
EMILY BLOCK 4
i believe that it is true that a longer journey is better, but what if fate has a different idea and your destiny is that you will have a shorter destiny. what happens if the destiny we have is short? i think it gives us a chance to show our good side and help others, if we all help others then we will feel like we accomlished something and if our journey ends short then we will not be sad that it has ended
The importance of seeing life as a journey is because life IS one big journey. The journey of life is made up of all the smaller journeys in life. For instance if you traveled to Japan, it was one journey that leads to the journey of life. All journeys are made up of small journeys that complete the BIG journey.Life is th big journey. In life you do so many things that make your life a journey ...not knowing what to expect next.
Brad Block 4
I do believe that there is some form of higher pwer that has planned out everyones journey. I don't mean that to be construed as a religous point of view, but if your life is planned then there is no way to change it. Just the other day my friend lost his phone while I was at his house and we spent a half hour looking for it. After leaving his house for a restaraunt i ran into my old school teacher. For me there have been too many occasions on which their have longshot coincidence's. I also believe that life is a journey and if it is cut short, it was planned to be cut short and there isnt anything that can be done to change it.
EMILY BLOCK 4
i agree, not that everybody is religious but seeing that i am, i like to believe that god was the one who created us with our journey and that he already knows what will happen but have the journey is dealing with how to make it easier so you can achieve it. Even if you are not religious you can still believe that someone maped out your journey for life. Now our goal is to travel it but if the journey getts cut short it was meant to be. Life is long but living in it is longer, so stick it out to see what you come across; coming across a shorter journey was always the plan if it comes, it was meant to be.
Our life is just a big journey. When we were little we always thought and said, "I want to be older!" Our parents had the same answer, "Don't rush it, just enjoy your childhood." Now that we're not really grown up, but old enough to know how it was back then, we realize that we don't want to hurry it. Just "live your life to it's fullest". Don't live on thinking about how your life's going to end. Just have fun with it. Because our actions determine our future. Sometimes we make mistakes, but that's how we learn. Our mistakes are what teaches us to grow.
some questions in life that need to be answered are answered in events.
one "question" that needs to be answered is love[finding someone is the answer], friendship[finding friendship is the answer].
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