"Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink." - Shunryu Suzuki
This quote explains so much about life. I would opine that, instead of stepping; life is like being forced onto the boat. How many people would want to take a trip knowing the boat will sink. What's the point? Hence mankind's longest, and thought-about philosophical question...What's the purpose of life? In the aforementioned quote, I think the meaning of life can be extracted. The purpose of life is to live. Life is just a recollection of memories about experiences and your feelings about such experiences, and hopefully there were more good memories than bad.
The first thing to do, however, is accept that our boat is going to sink, or that we are going to die. Some people will become so frightened that they sit on the boat in a corner and contemplate the end;,entering depression because their demise is inevitable. Others will understand that fact and live each moment as their last -- not knowing when the boat will sink -- they will make the most out of their time on the boat. The few dangerous men will use that fear as a way to control and manipulate them; telling them there may be ways to ride the boat forever, and they can be happy by buying cheap boat shoes and other crap made by the very people telling them that they need it to be happy. These men are described as dangerous, because they possess a deeper understanding of the trip, but use that knowledge to only enrich themselves, and keep others miseducated and miserable.
So here we are on this boat; that's no doubt going to sink. What do you want to do before the ship sinks? What sights do you want to see before the boat sinks? Can you still appreciate the beauty of the sunset or respect the majestic waters and be amazed by all the life she can carry in her waters? Or are you so self-absorbed that you can't get out of your own way to enjoy the ride at all. Don't be disillusioned by the ego! Enjoy the ride, see the sights and appreciate the fact that you at least got the chance to ride.
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