When it comes to life itself, I don't suppose I'm the only one who has two distinct ideas of living. There's life of course, the everyday grind. the push-pulls of public transport, the joys of passive smoking, the honking cars and nosy neighbors. That's life. Then of course, there's The Life - and yes, the capitalization is necessary. This is The Life with its weekly massages, cruising around the Italian riviera in Lamborghinis. The joys of caviar (or whatever you like), the minions, the decadence. C'est la vie.
Now you may call The Life whatever you like. I assume the cynics among you would call it futile day-dreaming, or just pipe dreams. The more, shall I say, supercilious members of the populace might prefer using pompous phrases such as "it's only a matter of time". Irrespective of what you call it, you have to admit that there is a very clear distinction between life and Life. This difference is possibly the most visible when life attempts to achieve the goals of Life. How so? Well, aren't you the most aware of the fact that Life is an idealization the moment you begin to live it? You think "this can't be real" or "this is perfect". Your disbelief is what seals the deal. That's what makes The Life a living, breathing entity. Don't deny it - no matter what you consider The Life to be (Ross Noble probably considers tossing ewoks into lakes of liquefied Methane the High Life. Admitted, his might be a little more out of reach than most ideas of Life) the truth is, you have one.
Now lets get on with the real thing, shall we?
One of the first things that confuses me is how to visualize the Life alongside life. Having spent most of the last six years drawing graphs, the X-Y coordinates seemed the easiest thing to work with. Initially, I imagined Life to be a steady, constant thing (graphs 1 and 2), but the truth of the matter is, things change. As life gets further, our dreams get dimmer. The star studded Life soon becomes a haunt for fireflies. Realism doesn't just affect us - more often than not, it affects our idea of things. When I was ten, I wanted to be rich enough to own a Caribbean island. By 13, a huge yacht and a Scottish castle seemed more than enough. 16 brought dreams of an apartment on the Upper West Side and at 22, the only thing I really want is a moderately comfortable life and the company of interesting people. My idea of the Life has gone from an episode of World's Richest People to basically a combination of rain, coffee and good friends. I'm not complaining - my current idea of The Life is far more compatible with who I am and is far more achievable a dream than become Johnny Depp's next door neighbor (ref. graphs 3, 4).
Another fact to keep in mind is, you can't actually plot lives on a graph. Mostly because you won't know what to put on the X-axis. I dramatically put "everything" s the label for X axis, and maybe, superficially it makes sense. The level of awesomeness of your life depends on everything. Starting with the kind of income brackets your parents fall under to that extra slice of cheesecake you ate last Friday, everything matters. Everything has an impact. Despite the sheer stupidity of considering "everything", lets address the real deal here: Is it accurate to assume that the things that impact our lives also impact our Lives? I think so. I mean if you were born richer or poorer, your Life would be different. If you found fell frightfully ill after the cheesecake, I imagine you would rid your Life of cheesecake almost immediately.
So basically, two long-winding paragraphs later, we can conclude that life and Life are basically players of the same sport. While one is a legend you hear whispers about, the other looks up to the legend, trying all it can to be like his hero. They are, however distinct entities that are constantly changing and evolving, which brings me to the best part of the idea: while life may be the kid trying to emulate his hero, Life is the one who changes as per the decisions made by the other. You can't predict exactly which direction life takes, but Life will always be a function of your past, present and perceived future. Its also a function of the dreams you have, and the dreams you lost. It abides by the laws that you live by. It reflects your sense of morality. In simple terms, the Life is a function of you:
Which manages to be an idea both terrifying and exhilarating. Think of all the times you spend cursing the fact that your life isn't going the way you want it to go (i.e. The Lifestyle), when the fact is, your actual life is a bitch to a whole lot of things apart from you while Life can be molded by you in anyway you see fit. You can influence everything in your Life, not life. The idealized version that you dream of can be twisted into whatever you desire.
Your actual life, on the other hand? Not actually in your hands.
Now you may call The Life whatever you like. I assume the cynics among you would call it futile day-dreaming, or just pipe dreams. The more, shall I say, supercilious members of the populace might prefer using pompous phrases such as "it's only a matter of time". Irrespective of what you call it, you have to admit that there is a very clear distinction between life and Life. This difference is possibly the most visible when life attempts to achieve the goals of Life. How so? Well, aren't you the most aware of the fact that Life is an idealization the moment you begin to live it? You think "this can't be real" or "this is perfect". Your disbelief is what seals the deal. That's what makes The Life a living, breathing entity. Don't deny it - no matter what you consider The Life to be (Ross Noble probably considers tossing ewoks into lakes of liquefied Methane the High Life. Admitted, his might be a little more out of reach than most ideas of Life) the truth is, you have one.
Now lets get on with the real thing, shall we?
One of the first things that confuses me is how to visualize the Life alongside life. Having spent most of the last six years drawing graphs, the X-Y coordinates seemed the easiest thing to work with. Initially, I imagined Life to be a steady, constant thing (graphs 1 and 2), but the truth of the matter is, things change. As life gets further, our dreams get dimmer. The star studded Life soon becomes a haunt for fireflies. Realism doesn't just affect us - more often than not, it affects our idea of things. When I was ten, I wanted to be rich enough to own a Caribbean island. By 13, a huge yacht and a Scottish castle seemed more than enough. 16 brought dreams of an apartment on the Upper West Side and at 22, the only thing I really want is a moderately comfortable life and the company of interesting people. My idea of the Life has gone from an episode of World's Richest People to basically a combination of rain, coffee and good friends. I'm not complaining - my current idea of The Life is far more compatible with who I am and is far more achievable a dream than become Johnny Depp's next door neighbor (ref. graphs 3, 4).
Another fact to keep in mind is, you can't actually plot lives on a graph. Mostly because you won't know what to put on the X-axis. I dramatically put "everything" s the label for X axis, and maybe, superficially it makes sense. The level of awesomeness of your life depends on everything. Starting with the kind of income brackets your parents fall under to that extra slice of cheesecake you ate last Friday, everything matters. Everything has an impact. Despite the sheer stupidity of considering "everything", lets address the real deal here: Is it accurate to assume that the things that impact our lives also impact our Lives? I think so. I mean if you were born richer or poorer, your Life would be different. If you found fell frightfully ill after the cheesecake, I imagine you would rid your Life of cheesecake almost immediately.
So basically, two long-winding paragraphs later, we can conclude that life and Life are basically players of the same sport. While one is a legend you hear whispers about, the other looks up to the legend, trying all it can to be like his hero. They are, however distinct entities that are constantly changing and evolving, which brings me to the best part of the idea: while life may be the kid trying to emulate his hero, Life is the one who changes as per the decisions made by the other. You can't predict exactly which direction life takes, but Life will always be a function of your past, present and perceived future. Its also a function of the dreams you have, and the dreams you lost. It abides by the laws that you live by. It reflects your sense of morality. In simple terms, the Life is a function of you:
Life = f(you)
Which manages to be an idea both terrifying and exhilarating. Think of all the times you spend cursing the fact that your life isn't going the way you want it to go (i.e. The Lifestyle), when the fact is, your actual life is a bitch to a whole lot of things apart from you while Life can be molded by you in anyway you see fit. You can influence everything in your Life, not life. The idealized version that you dream of can be twisted into whatever you desire.
Your actual life, on the other hand? Not actually in your hands.
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