The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books."Oh, look! Here is an explorer!" he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far!"Where do you come from?" the old gentleman said to him."What is that big book?" said the little prince. "What are you doing?""I am a geographer," said the old gentleman."What is a geographer?" asked the little prince."A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts.""That is very interesting," said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession!" And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen."Your planet is very beautiful," he said. "Has it any oceans?""I couldn't tell you," said the geographer."Ah!" The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?""I couldn't tell you," said the geographer."And towns, and rivers, and deserts?""I couldn't tell you that, either.""But you are a geographer!""Exactly," the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions, and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character.""Why is that?""Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much.""Why is that?" asked the little prince."Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one.""I know some one," said the little prince, "who would make a bad explorer.""That is possible. Then, when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good, an inquiry is ordered into his discovery.""One goes to see it?""No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it."The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement."But you--you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall describe your planet to me!"And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs, before putting them down in ink."Well?" said the geographer expectantly."Oh, where I live," said the little prince, "it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows.""One never knows," said the geographer."I have also a flower.""We do not record flowers," said the geographer."Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet!""We do not record them," said the geographer, "because they are ephemeral.""What does that mean--'ephemeral'?""Geographies," said the geographer, "are the books which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things.""But extinct volcanoes may come to life again," the little prince interrupted. "What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?""Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive, it comes to the same thing for us," said the geographer. "The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change.""But what does that mean--'ephemeral'?" repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question, once he had asked it."It means, 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'""Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?""Certainly it is.""My flower is ephemeral," the little prince said to himself, "and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone!"That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more."What place would you advise me to visit now?" he asked."The planet Earth," replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation."And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.
Dear Mayumi
Let's follow the story up to the end then we can answer to these questions much better .
mayumi garcia said:
Dear Darius,
Thank you for explaining that life however short or long, it doesn't matter..What matter most is how well you live your life..
You are so good in explaining things, Darius..And very kind that you spent time in making arguments clear....Thanks..
One more thing, my friend..May I ask do you believe in life after death? Or others called it transformation? Do you believe our soul will have another life after our earthly body died?
Thank you for explaining that life however short or long, it doesn't matter..What matter most is how well you live your life..
You are so good in explaining things, Darius..And very kind that you spent time in making arguments clear....Thanks..
One more thing, my friend..May I ask do you believe in life after death? Or others called it transformation? Do you believe our soul will have another life after our earthly body died?
Dear Mayumi
There is an insect who's named Myfly.These aquatic insects have the shortest lifespan known, with their life expectancy ranging from just a half an hour to one day, depending on their species. In fact, their sole purpose in life is to hatch, and reproduce.
And the giant tortoise lives the longest, about 177 years in captivity.
Have you ever thought about life time? Have you ever thought about elements in our body which probably had been participating in a chemical reaction in trunk of a tree at the age of
Ordovician (500 million years ago)?
As our famous poet Khayyam's said :
" I bought a jug from a pottery as memory"
"I heard a voice! The jug was telling a story"
" I had been a king. King of so many lands!"
" What am I today ? a jug in others' hands!"
What's in our mind when we are thinking about life time ? Our body ? But its elements are older than us. over than million years. so it couldn't be our answer.
When we are looking at a mountain we usually make ourselves sure that it is there, because it had been there , Because we've seen it there several times without any changes.We would be very surprised if one day wake up and see there is no mountain around us.
When we are looking at a flower, based on our experiences we are thinking about an ephemeral thing and we would be very surprised when someone claims he's seen a flower over than 100 years old.
So usually we change our VISION about them. The quality of our vision is different about these cases.
Think about an Ice cream and at the same time about a nut. Ice creams have a short life so we change our vision about it and we try to enjoy from an ice cream in a few minutes.
It is QUALITY of our VISION. It's our minds which have got a chronometer and based on that are thinking about quality of vision. It is completely flexible.
I've seen a cartoon " Adventures of Hutch the honey bee"many years ago. That was a stormy day Hutch found a cocoon. he didn't know which insect cocoon it is. Maybe that was cocoon of a dangerous insect or maybe a butterfly.But the weather was so harmful for that cocoon and hutch decided to take care of that cocoon until its hatching.he took care from that cocoon for days and nights he never slept so he was very tired. At the end of the third day he was too tired to be awake.Early morning when he woke up there was no cocoon but a very young cricket was singing. Hutch found out this cricket had been in that cocoon. The cricket was singing nonstop. " Why are you singing ? Aren't you going to do something else ?" Hutch asked. He stopped and said " We are a special kind of crickets who live only for two days. I can singing. I only know singing So I should do it as well as I can"
Hautch was so sad. He was there seeing the cricket who was growing old.But the cricket was singing and singing. He sang up to the end of his short life.
I also remember lyrics of a song by David Bowie :
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day We can be heroes, just for one day
It is not important how many years we are alive.It is not important how old we are.It is not important in which year I was born. The most important thing is : " How I am living "
mayumi garcia said:
Hello Darius and Ghazal,
Do the the words ephemeral and eternal refers to the things that are permanent and permanent things in life? I remember one good qoute...It's about human life...We won't live forever in this old world... We are just a passer by..we just here on earth just for a while compare for the time that mountain, river, sea or even just a pebble. They seem eternal and we are just ephemeral like the flower in the story..But God has a promised gift to us and is not only ephemeral things but eternal life..A life under his eternal care..And how to be there? I think we have to give up those ephemeral things that blocking our way to Him..Because as the wise saying goes, "We are just a passerby"....
Do the the words ephemeral and eternal refers to the things that are permanent and permanent things in life? I remember one good qoute...It's about human life...We won't live forever in this old world... We are just a passer by..we just here on earth just for a while compare for the time that mountain, river, sea or even just a pebble. They seem eternal and we are just ephemeral like the flower in the story..But God has a promised gift to us and is not only ephemeral things but eternal life..A life under his eternal care..And how to be there? I think we have to give up those ephemeral things that blocking our way to Him..Because as the wise saying goes, "We are just a passerby"....
Dear Ghazal
Which one is more important, right , north or west, front ? All of them are important and useful. Or let me ask which one is more important Our eyes or our eras? Both of them are important and no one is able to say which one is more important than the other . But a body couldn't be complete in the lack of eyes or ears .
We have got our life and it is one stage of all stage that we should pass through.Our own life is a sub base for our social life .So you can't compare them as two individual part . You should consider them as a body and each part can affect the other one.
Ghazal said:
Oh that was really a nice explanation! But which one do you think is more important,our own life or our social life or both of them has its own importance ?and how do you think we can have a balance in our social and personal life?
Darius said:
Thank you Ghazal ! Do you know what could be the differences between "sides " as left or right ,front or back and "Directions " as North ,South,East and West ? All of them are showing sides and directions but When you are talking about Right ,left ,front and back the basis of your side is yourself you are comparison all directions with yourself . But when you are talking about directions specially geographical directions there is only a universal bench mark for that . There is only one North for all people.and one south too.So at the same time you have got your own side criteria and a universal criteria for direction.Non of these two criteria deny the other one . It means You have got your own life and at the same time you can live socially.
Ghazal said:
Mountains were important for the geographer,but the flower is the most important thing in life for the prince although it is ephemeral. And maybe this different tact was strage for them. Each person had his/her own tact .What would happen if all the people had mutual important things and mutual tact?!
Oh that was really a nice explanation! But which one do you think is more important,our own life or our social life or both of them has its own importance ?and how do you think we can have a balance in our social and personal life?
Darius said:
Thank you Ghazal ! Do you know what could be the differences between "sides " as left or right ,front or back and "Directions " as North ,South,East and West ? All of them are showing sides and directions but When you are talking about Right ,left ,front and back the basis of your side is yourself you are comparison all directions with yourself . But when you are talking about directions specially geographical directions there is only a universal bench mark for that . There is only one North for all people.and one south too.So at the same time you have got your own side criteria and a universal criteria for direction.Non of these two criteria deny the other one .It means You have got your own life and at the same time you can live socially.
Ghazal said:
Mountains were important for the geographer,but the flower is the most important thing in life for the prince although it is ephemeral. And maybe this different tact was strage for them. Each person had his/her own tact .What would happen if all the people had mutual important things and mutual tact?!
Thank you Ghazal !
Do you know what could be the differences between "sides " as left or right ,front or back and "Directions " as North ,South,East and West ?
All of them are showing sides and directions but When you are talking about Right ,left ,front and back the basis of your side is yourself you are comparison all directions with yourself . But when you are talking about directions specially geographical directions there is only a universal bench mark for that . There is only one North for all people.and one south too.So at the same time you have got your own side criteria and a universal criteria for direction.Non of these two criteria deny the other one .
It means You have got your own life and at the same time you can live socially.
Ghazal said:
Mountains were important for the geographer,but the flower is the most important thing in life for the prince although it is ephemeral. And maybe this different tact was strage for them. Each person had his/her own tact .What would happen if all the people had mutual important things and mutual tact?!
Mountains were important for the geographer,but the flower is the most important thing in life for the prince although it is ephemeral. And maybe this different tact was strage for them.
Each person had his/her own tact .What would happen if all the people had mutual important things and mutual tact?!
Replies
Let's follow the story up to the end then we can answer to these questions much better .
mayumi garcia said:
Thank you for explaining that life however short or long, it doesn't matter..What matter most is how well you live your life..
You are so good in explaining things, Darius..And very kind that you spent time in making arguments clear....Thanks..
One more thing, my friend..May I ask do you believe in life after death? Or others called it transformation? Do you believe our soul will have another life after our earthly body died?
There is an insect who's named Myfly.These aquatic insects have the shortest lifespan known, with their life expectancy ranging from just a half an hour to one day, depending on their species. In fact, their sole purpose in life is to hatch, and reproduce.
And the giant tortoise lives the longest, about 177 years in captivity.
Have you ever thought about life time? Have you ever thought about elements in our body which probably had been participating in a chemical reaction in trunk of a tree at the age of
Ordovician (500 million years ago)?
As our famous poet Khayyam's said :
" I bought a jug from a pottery as memory"
"I heard a voice! The jug was telling a story"
" I had been a king. King of so many lands!"
" What am I today ? a jug in others' hands!"
What's in our mind when we are thinking about life time ? Our body ? But its elements are older than us. over than million years. so it couldn't be our answer.
When we are looking at a mountain we usually make ourselves sure that it is there, because it had been there , Because we've seen it there several times without any changes.We would be very surprised if one day wake up and see there is no mountain around us.
When we are looking at a flower, based on our experiences we are thinking about an ephemeral thing and we would be very surprised when someone claims he's seen a flower over than 100 years old.
So usually we change our VISION about them. The quality of our vision is different about these cases.
Think about an Ice cream and at the same time about a nut. Ice creams have a short life so we change our vision about it and we try to enjoy from an ice cream in a few minutes.
It is QUALITY of our VISION. It's our minds which have got a chronometer and based on that are thinking about quality of vision. It is completely flexible.
I've seen a cartoon " Adventures of Hutch the honey bee"many years ago. That was a stormy day Hutch found a cocoon. he didn't know which insect cocoon it is. Maybe that was cocoon of a dangerous insect or maybe a butterfly.But the weather was so harmful for that cocoon and hutch decided to take care of that cocoon until its hatching.he took care from that cocoon for days and nights he never slept so he was very tired. At the end of the third day he was too tired to be awake.Early morning when he woke up there was no cocoon but a very young cricket was singing. Hutch found out this cricket had been in that cocoon. The cricket was singing nonstop. " Why are you singing ? Aren't you going to do something else ?" Hutch asked. He stopped and said " We are a special kind of crickets who live only for two days. I can singing. I only know singing So I should do it as well as I can"
Hautch was so sad. He was there seeing the cricket who was growing old.But the cricket was singing and singing. He sang up to the end of his short life.
I also remember lyrics of a song by David Bowie :
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day
It is not important how many years we are alive.It is not important how old we are.It is not important in which year I was born. The most important thing is : " How I am living "
mayumi garcia said:
Do the the words ephemeral and eternal refers to the things that are permanent and permanent things in life? I remember one good qoute...It's about human life...We won't live forever in this old world... We are just a passer by..we just here on earth just for a while compare for the time that mountain, river, sea or even just a pebble. They seem eternal and we are just ephemeral like the flower in the story..But God has a promised gift to us and is not only ephemeral things but eternal life..A life under his eternal care..And how to be there? I think we have to give up those ephemeral things that blocking our way to Him..Because as the wise saying goes, "We are just a passerby"....
mayumee
Which one is more important, right , north or west, front ? All of them are important and useful. Or let me ask which one is more important Our eyes or our eras? Both of them are important and no one is able to say which one is more important than the other . But a body couldn't be complete in the lack of eyes or ears .
We have got our life and it is one stage of all stage that we should pass through.Our own life is a sub base for our social life .So you can't compare them as two individual part . You should consider them as a body and each part can affect the other one.
Ghazal said:
Darius said:
Do you know what could be the differences between "sides " as left or right ,front or back and "Directions " as North ,South,East and West ?
All of them are showing sides and directions but When you are talking about Right ,left ,front and back the basis of your side is yourself you are comparison all directions with yourself . But when you are talking about directions specially geographical directions there is only a universal bench mark for that . There is only one North for all people.and one south too.So at the same time you have got your own side criteria and a universal criteria for direction.Non of these two criteria deny the other one .
It means You have got your own life and at the same time you can live socially.
Ghazal said:
Each person had his/her own tact .What would happen if all the people had mutual important things and mutual tact?!