# Reading > Philosophical Literature >  To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.(O. wilde)

## Regina61285

This is a short essay based of Wilde's quotation hope you fine it interesting.
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.(Oscar wilde)
Nowadays people kill themselves to eke out a living, improve their living conditions or keep their high standard of living, but they forget to live. A Scottish proverb says; "be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead." In fact, people dont live, but they survive each day, for they are too busy, too tired, too stressed and too worried to really enjoy the pleasures of life. Everyone says; time flies. Thus, hours become days and days become years and years become a wasted precious life, and what for? Of course, for a better living.
Its believed that to be successful in life and improve your conditions you have to work hard and never stop, because if you stop, another person will come and take your place. Besides, as the present society demands a lot of effort to survive and keep a decent living, pleasures are the first thing to be put off when wanting to achieve any goal. However, if you postpone your enjoyment until you have time, money and/or proper conditions arrive that time may never come or come too late and your priceless life will be wasted.
The strains of modern life force people to live in such a hurry that they dont even have time to enjoy the beautiful world we live in. People forget to take delight of the bonny things nature provides us. It costs no money and takes almost no time. "This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it." - Thomas Carlyle. 
Being ambitious, human beings always want more than what they actually need or would really enjoy like a collector. People accumulate things for others to enjoy them, for they value their lives by the things they possess, which is a quite sad way of appreciating life since theyll never be satisfied. The true perfection of man lies not in what man has, but in what man is. Oscar Wilde.
If people at bedtime review of the day ask themselves how much they delight the day, theyll probably conclude that they miss another chance of feeling alive. Responsibilities are absolutely necessary as well as a job and material things, but life goes beyond that. How many people at their deathbed regret for not taking the opportunities they had to live, to have adventures and experiences? There is nothing better than to look back your past and be able to say; I lived and lived very well. I made mistakes and I learned from them.
Additionally, there is the other group of people who have all the time of the world to have a life, but they prefer to mind others business. Gossip peoples lives are so empty, so tasteless, and so dead that they just exist and, what is worse, they dont know how to live. 
In conclusion, our time is not eternal. Each second, minute, hour, day we waste is gone forever. To overwork for something you wont enjoy is as silly as having the opportunity to live but to prefer to exist in order to talk about the ones who do live. Once we value more what we are than what we have, maybe our goals would change and feel what to be alive means. Thus, after feeling really alive, our life will be neither empty nor wasted but full of precious experiences.

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## billyjack

well said mr. oscar wilde. seriously though, if you take him up on his offer, i mean really take him up on it, you'd have to be fabulously rich, have an absolutely wonderful perspective on the mundane, and/or be a bum.

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## Jeremy_PA

Regina, thank you for this essay. I wholeheardtedly agree with you. Another thing I want to add is that besides having a deeper appreciation and awareness of life, it is also important for us to discover our own life purpose. Thankfully, with philosophy we have the ability to question our beliefs, reevaluate our values, enlighten our mind to new things, and find out what is truly important to us. This is the main idea I got from Oscar's quote, namely, if we don't have a purpose or meaning for living, then why do we continue existing?

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## Delta40

It is good to seek our own balances in life. Nice to be reminded as part of that process with essays such as yours.

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## LitNetIsGreat

Well put Regina.




> well said mr. oscar wilde. seriously though, if you take him up on his offer, i mean really take him up on it, you'd have to be fabulously rich, have an absolutely wonderful perspective on the mundane, and/or be a bum.


There is sort of a paradox to what Wilde says and in a sense you are correct, but I am unsure of exactly what you mean by having a "wonderful perspective on the mundane." If you read "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" by Wilde, or even the prologue to _Dorian Gray_ then Wilde doesn't say that people shouldn't work as such, but that they shouldn't take pleasure in the mundane or their inferior status. Maybe that is what you meant anyway? He also calls for technology to do the dirty jobs for mankind in a utopian sense, of course he doesn't suggest how this should come about, nor should he have to, as he simply paints a picture of how things should be. Wilde creates the ideal in which we should live to, as he said once in an interview (on art but it can be applied here) that "the only thing worth doing is what the world says is impossible." In "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" Wilde is every bit a utopian Marxist and very different from how he is perceived as a light writer of social comedy.

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## Regina61285

> well said mr. oscar wilde. seriously though, if you take him up on his offer, i mean really take him up on it, you'd have to be fabulously rich, have an absolutely wonderful perspective on the mundane, and/or be a bum.


I think you didn't understand my point billyjack... :Frown:  I'm neither fabulously rich nor a bum, and having a wonderful perspective on the mundane? what do you mean by that? I take pleasure as sth I enjoy and delight doing, like walking barefoot on the grass, drinking mate (I'm argentinian  :Biggrin: ) with my family, listening to music while being resting in bed watching the roof.
I don't mean to stop doing my duties or being unresponsible but just to enjoy from time to time. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes of pleasure per day is not wrong I think. And why not if can save money do a short journey to some nice place...  :Tongue:

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## billyjack

> Well put Regina.
> 
> 
> 
> There is sort of a paradox to what Wilde says and in a sense you are correct, but I am unsure of exactly what you mean by having a "wonderful perspective on the mundane." If you read "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" by Wilde, or even the prologue to _Dorian Gray_ then Wilde doesn't say that people shouldn't work as such, but that they shouldn't take pleasure in the mundane or their inferior status. Maybe that is what you meant anyway? He also calls for technology to do the dirty jobs for mankind in a utopian sense, of course he doesn't suggest how this should come about, nor should he have to, as he simply paints a picture of how things should be. Wilde creates the ideal in which we should live to, as he said once in an interview (on art but it can be applied here) that "the only thing worth doing is what the world says is impossible." In "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" Wilde is every bit a utopian Marxist and very different from how he is perceived as a light writer of social comedy.


yeah, as far as a wonderful perspective on the mundane, i meant that unless you're rich or a bum, you have to work so you better be prepared to find elaborate ways of making your working life interesting in order to truly live rather than just exist. i liked the wilde quote and just wanted to make a point that the "living" he is asking of his fellow man isnt an easy thing to do 




> I think you didn't understand my point billyjack... I'm neither fabulously rich nor a bum, and having a wonderful perspective on the mundane? what do you mean by that? I take pleasure as sth I enjoy and delight doing, like walking barefoot on the grass, drinking mate (I'm argentinian ) with my family, listening to music while being resting in bed watching the roof.
> I don't mean to stop doing my duties or being unresponsible but just to enjoy from time to time. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes of pleasure per day is not wrong I think. And why not if can save money do a short journey to some nice place...


na, i got ya. wasnt calling you or wilde. i agree with both of you and i dig mate tea as well. i visited your country a while back and filled my rucksack with 5 bags of mate. i even got myself a bombadilla (i think thats what the straw thingy is called)

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## LitNetIsGreat

> yeah, as far as a wonderful perspective on the mundane, i meant that unless you're rich or a bum, you have to work so you better be prepared to find elaborate ways of making your working life interesting in order to truly live rather than just exist. i liked the wilde quote and just wanted to make a point that the "living" he is asking of his fellow man isnt an easy thing to do


Oh yes I see what you mean.

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## Regina61285

> yeah, as far as a wonderful perspective on the mundane, i meant that unless you're rich or a bum, you have to work so you better be prepared to find elaborate ways of making your working life interesting in order to truly live rather than just exist. i liked the wilde quote and just wanted to make a point that the "living" he is asking of his fellow man isnt an easy thing to do 
> 
> 
> 
> na, i got ya. wasnt calling you or wilde. i agree with both of you and i dig mate tea as well. i visited your country a while back and filled my rucksack with 5 bags of mate. i even got myself a bombadilla (i think thats what the straw thingy is called)


Oh ok. I see ur point.  :Smile:  And I'm glad u liked our mate but it's as addictive as coffe so take care  :Tongue:

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## country doctor

don't we all have days where we 'really live' and others where we're just glad we survived. the key is to remember to strive to have more of the former. of course, that's just me.

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## mangueken

Nice post Regina. It's always a pleasure to contemplate the sayings of the wise and witty Oscar Wilde. One of my favorite quotes of his (what play, I can't remember) goes something like this, "we're all standing in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars"
Over the years, my memory has probably paraphrased his original line, but that's about the essence of it. 
It goes well with the quote you opened the post with.

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## Eugenie

That was lovely Regina.
As little children, if in an environment where love and nurturing and enough are the common, I believe it is attainable to to live and not exist.
But life conspires against us and against our collective will sickness, abandonment, death, srife, taxes, anxiety,poverty, wealth, peer pressure and just remembering we are but mortals who must lie down and cease to exist one day on this earth, is quite enough to put us on the exist mode. Not to say we don't have our little moments, but honestly unless one lives in a vaccuum with absolutely no one to care about our emotions just get in the way of living.
That is why, I think, and it is just my opinion, that fine poems and beautifully crafted books with memorable characters, a perfect cake our pie or song sang with friends, all these things in bits and pieces and written about are scooped up and downed by us to sustain us and let us 'live' if only through the eyes or ears or hands of another.

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## Eugenie

And that is why we have migrated to this site and share 'living' with one another.

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## hoope

Great thread Regina.. its really true.. how ppl live nowadays living blindly or even living just coz they have to or pointlessly... Just coz we have to make it through . 

thx alot for sharing this post.

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## Chava

As a dreamer, my head is always full of a variety of things that need to be done or at least attempted. One of my most frustrating life experiences has been people who shake their heads at me and say "It is impossible". In many ways we are our own biggest limitation. I don't necessarily think that living as opposed to existing requires large financial resources, but it does require effort, and perhaps willfull naiveity. Certainly one cannot wait for things to happen, and many I know always speak of "when I'll start living my life", forgetting that the present is your life too.

However the ability to believe in ones own ability surely relies on our life situation. It is only because i am free from so many worries that I am free to dream and free to do the things that I want. Existing can be hard enough.

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