Quite often, while surfing the internet and reading different pages, I have stopped and wondered why do so many people feel the need to write lengthy phrases in order to make a simple, often times trivial idea, intelligible.

I thought that it might be the complete lack of any writing skills, or the lack of intellect. Or perhaps it is the desire of earning money by doing nothing. Often times however, they were all combined.

Similar to book authors, there are two types of web publishers: those who write for the subject’s sake, and those who write for writing’s sake.

The first type of publisher has had thoughts or experiences which to him seem to be worthy of communicating, while the second type needs money and consequently writes for money. The writer writing for writing’s sake needs to spin out his thoughts to the greatest possible length because he sells words; and the ideas he often presents have half-true, forced thoughts, as foundation. His writing also contains evasion, because he wants it to appear what it is not.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

William Shakespeare – All the world’s a stage (from As You Like It 2/7)

I believe the first two lines of the above poem are well known to most of you. The first line has even become clichéed.

But do you know where the idea that all the world’s a stage came from?

Have you ever used the word “person” to refer to another human being?

“Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

We can be quite certain that many of us owe our life’s happiness to the circumstances in which we posses a pleasant smile and so win the hearts of others.

One doesn’t need to read many self-improvement blogs to notice that the act of smiling is held high regards, almost idealized – the perfect tool for feeling happiness and making people like you.

However, the hearts who praise and value smiling would do better to take care to remember what Hamlet put down in his tablets – “that one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”

photo by: tokyo ayano

Many people seem to base their ideas about what is “true” and what is “false” upon some form of majority opinion. Sometimes it is a simple majority vote, sometimes a statistical sampling, while other times the “general consensus” of all people around the world. Whatever form it has, the basic premise that most people adhere to is that “truth” is best distinguished from “falsehood” by observing what most others believe to be the case.

That happens because people typically hold democracy in high regard; so high that often times they mistake democratic majority for “truth.” In democracies, policies and laws are determined by majority opinion – so why not “truth” as well? What must be understood is that while the democratic process may be a just means for deciding what policy to follow, that doesn’t mean that this process always hits upon the best or most correct policy.

Democracy is a system of establishing political and social justice, not a system for establishing truths. Physicists cannot determine the age of the universe by submitting the question to a vote of the majority. Philosophers cannot decide whether beauty is universal or not by meeting and casting ballots. Truth and justice are both important values, but they can’t be arrived at via the same means.

When someone’s life isn’t exactly perfect, friends and family usually advise that person to look at the bright side of things, at what is positive.

When businesses fail, the managers who took them to the ground do the same thing; they look at the positive aspects of their failing businesses.

The two examples above share a huge error, an error that not only will make their subjects hit the ground faster, but will also take them there without anyone feeling the imminent danger.

“You’re heading towards hell, but can you see the bright side!?”

Every time someone advises you to look at what is good in your life, when your life is a mess or not going in the direction you want it to, you might want to slap that person. Call it a “wake up slap” and tell them to take it out on me (give them the link to this post).