Life vs. a Fire Hose

During class today I was thinking of how we can never fully grasp life. Experiences can pass us by so easily, just thinking of how many hours I spend watching T.V. when I could be outside or reading (although I really do enjoy my soaps). Anyways, I paired what I thought with what my teacher had said in class yesterday about another subject. My teacher had said that our test was like drinking out of a fire hose, but I started to think that that phrase can go with class descussion. I believe that life is like drinking out of a fire hose. You can never catch all the water, but you still get bits and pieces. Even if you did catch all the water it wouldn't be healthy, you would choke or spit it up. SO, Eliot tells us to live in the conscious and then says it "costs not less than everything." I don't think we are meant to live in the consciousness. People are suppose to miss the point, otherwise we would miss the mystery. This is why religion was invented. God, or in paganism gods, are suppose to know all and humans are suppose to worship those who know all. People like to believe that one day, maybe it's after death, but in time we will come to a point where we can comprehend life's meanings. On Earth, to truly experience humanity we must make mistakes and try and learn and until we finally catch the point of a minuscule part of life. Until we catch a small particul of truth we will keep making mistakes. Similar to Goundhog's Day, he had to make a lifetime of wrong decisions in order to perfect a single day. Maybe it will be with death that we can truly comprehend our experiences, but life would never be any fun with out adventure. Adventure is truly human because it is the starting of something new and exciting. Nothing would ever be new if we didn't miss some, or most, of the water from the fire hose.

Little Gidding Presentation

Our group presentation was today. I would like to go more into detail on my part of the presentation. There can be many possibilities to each line of the Four Quartets and it is impossible to explain them all. Just for the record, these are just my thoughts on the poem, in no way, shape, or form they final or exact.
Firstly, this is my part:

We die with the dying:
See, they depart, and we go with them.--(This is the circle of life echo. Everyone and everything is connected. People, even after they leave, have an effect on how we think and live life).
We are born with the dead: (Our genetics are passed on from generation to generation)
See, they return, and bring us with them.
The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-tree (Rose-representing beauty/love/and all layers of humanity and the yew-tree as immortality-Eliot may be alluding to life after death or also the belief in Christianity that one day, when humanity becomes too evil, God will come down to Earth and split the bad from the good. Then at the end of the world humanity and immortality will be one in the same)
Are of equal duration. A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments. (Time is always present even for those without history. Also the thought of memory, memory is without time. History can never be disconnected from memory, which brings along a biased perception.)
So, while the light fails
On a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapel (Winter, such as Nick talked about is a dead year-Eliot may be referring to the effects and feel of the war as being continual)
History is now and England. (History is now because the War is making history)
With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this
Calling (Love and Calling being capitalized maybe referring to God's love and God's calling. They say you won't find an atheist in a foxhole, a war of this magnitude strengthens religion when there is nothing left)
We shall not cease from exploration (Life is a continual adventure, we continue learning and making changes, however small, that effect our life. Also, death is an adventure, probably the greatest adventure. Even in our last years of decrepitation we keep exploring)
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started (I thought of the ocean with this line, In the King James Bible, the creation story talks of God creating water first, Eliot says we need to arrive where we started which could be seen as the sea)
And know the place for the first time. (The ocean remains a very mysterious entity that can never be known because of humanities limitations)
Through the unknown, remembered gate (The gate in this section could be referring to the gates of heaven or the gate could be a representation of a new beginning, entering into a new realm. I thought the arch that I saw in Cabo San Lucas was a good image because it is gateway to the pacific ocean)
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river (This could still represent the sea, the Nile River comes from the Mediterranean Sea)
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree (childhood is a time of purity and innocence and also the beginning of our life)
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea. (The silence between the waves is a sort of measurement where a person can really appreciate the consciousness, if listening intently. However, people listening to the ocean listen to the waves crashing, Eliot asks us to listen to the in between or the stillness between two immensely dramatic objects)
Quick now, here, now, always— (The consciousness again that Eliot wants us to live in)
A condition of complete simplicity (Saying that it should be so simple to live in the present)
(Costing not less than everything) ---(Here Eliot says, just kidding, living in the present isn't easy because it will cost a person all they have, including their past, their memories, and their future expectations)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well (Again, like Katie says, the Julian of Norwich quote, Eliot may have seemed negative and dark in the earlier quartets, but in the end I think he believes life will work out with religion)
When the tongues of flame are in-folded (Tongues of flame could be referring to what Abby was saying with the serpentine tongues of the dove, "a fallen angel," being tamed)
Into the crowned knot of fire (Crown representing a King or God as the King taming the fire or sin, also fire being the purifier can be seen as a controlled purifier of humanity)
And the fire and the rose are one. (I felt like the rose really is a signifier of humanity and the fire again could be a few things, either sin or redemption. I think redemption goes better because of the quote "all shall be well," if humanity has redemption and also if humanity and immortality are of equal duration then fire would better describe redemption)

Life Cycles

I've been working on my part in the Little Gidding presentation and what I plan on saying. I enjoyed group 2's presentation on Wednesday. Sam brought up the life as a cycle concept and I a lot of the Little Gidding references made more sense. I had thought of that earlier when Eliot says, "We die with the dying, see they depart and we go with them, we are born with the dead, see they return and bring us with them." This made me think of how everyone is a part of everything and that fits perfectly with the circle concept. However, today, at lunch, I was talking with Tai. He had his own ideas on Eliot's view on life. I won't say much more because he should do his own blog on it, but Tai's conversation brought up the idea of shapes. While eating we drew out our epiphanies (not great epiphanies by any means). So, the Past, Present, and Future could be seen as a straight line, such as this: Tai has a different approach that is a square and, like I said, he needs to explain that. I don't want it to seem like I stole his idea, mostly because my idea is much more awesome. On with the point, I thought life should be seen as a triangle. So far, we have a line, a circle, a square, and by goodness, we need a triangle.

Here's my view, with Tai's help (I suppose) on life:

Don't worry, I will explain for the low brows. The roof over the house is made up of our past, present, and future because it is what gives us shelter and solace. Our life is spent under the roof and protection of our home, not to mention the roof holds under all our memories and liberations. Next comes the walls, the structure of the home because "Home is where we start from." The door, you will see, is red, such as the color of Past. Reflecting our past experiences in our home, emphasising where we started from. The tree came next. It is the tree of wisdom, trees in literature represent age, a life form that has been there many generations, I also added Owl to the wisdom tree. The river is then drawn representing knowledge. Ever flowing and unattainable. "At the source of the longest river" is knowledge, also known as the sea. We came from the sea and thus, we will return. Floating in the river is the lotus flower signifying birth and rebirth through the water. Last is the hidden gate because lastly we will return to the "unknown, remembered gate." Yet, the key can only be discovered with an understanding of past, present, and future. In this is the meaning of, "my end is my beginning."

Mexico

So, I'm sure you're all wondering where I was for a week. Well, I was in Mexico, for a few reasons. One was a friend's wedding, but more importantly, for capstone research. I felt that to truly understand what "between two waves of the sea" meant I had to experience the act myself. Of course, to do this I had to go to Mexico where it was 85 degrees and sunny. I realized there are always pictures and paintings to be seen of the ocean or of waves crashing against rocks and even though pictures can be beautiful, they can never show the feeling that the ocean gives a person when watching the waves come onto the beach and realizing the immense power that those waves hold. When Eliot wrote, "Not known, because not looked for, But heard, half-heard, in the stillness, Between two waves of the sea." He intentionally compared silence and peace with the ocean. When standing next to the ocean you realize that it is the opposite of silent and peaceful. This is the struggle that Little Gidding presents, the same struggle that we have in understanding epiphanies. Just as the stillness between two waves is almost impossible to catch, so is the meaning of our little epiphanic moments of perfection. The stillness, even when looked for can be unknown to the seeker. While listening intently one night to the crashing of the waves, I realized that there might not be an "ah" epiphany waiting in that second of silence. Instead, maybe that moment in time is meant to be appreciated rather than exasperated.