Lin Yutang: Life is like a poem

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I thought from a biological point of view, life reads almost like a poem. It has its own rhythm and beat, but also its inner cycle of growth and decay. It begins with a naïve childhood, followed by a rough adolescence, a crude attempt to adapt to a mature society, with youthful enthusiasm and foolishness, ideals and ambitions; and later reaches a period of intense adulthood, in which experience benefits and more experience is gained by society and human nature;

In middle age, the tension is slightly reduced, the personality is ripe, like the ripening of fruit or the mellow ripeness of good wine, and gradually embrace a more tolerant, cynical, and more loving attitude towards life; later, when it comes to aging, the endocrine glands reduce their activity, and if we have a real philosophical concept of old age, and adjust our way of life according to this concept, then this period is in our minds a period of peace, stability, leisure and satisfaction;

Finally, the fire of life flashes out, and a person sleeps forever and no longer wakes up. We should be able to experience the beauty of this rhythm of life, to appreciate the main themes of life, the melodies of its conflicts, and the final decisions, as we should appreciate the Great Symphony.

These circular movements are roughly the same in normal life, but the music must be played by the individual himself. In the souls of some people, the irreconcilable key becomes more and more grand, and as a result, the formal tune is drowned out, and if the unsympathetic key is too loud to continue playing, the person shoots himself, or jumps into the river and commits suicide.

This is because of his lack of good self-education, so that the original main theme has been covered. On the contrary, a normal life will maintain a serious action and line, moving towards a normal goal. Among many of us, there are sometimes too many tremors or agitations to sound harsh; perhaps we should have some great rhythms and majestic sound waves like the Ganges, flowing slowly and forever toward the sea.

A person has childhood, prime and old age, and I don't think anyone will find this unhappy. There are morning, noon, and sunset in a day, and there are four seasons in a year: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. There is nothing good or bad in life, only the question of "what was good in that season". If we cling to this biological conception of life and live according to the seasons, then no one except arrogant nerds and hopeless idealists will deny that life does indeed live like a poem.

Shakespeare expressed this idea very clearly in his article on the seventh stage of his life, and many Chinese writers have said similar things about it. It is strange that Shakespeare did not become a religious man and did not show great concern for religion. I think that's what makes him great; he sees life as life, he doesn't bother with the configuration and organization of everything in the world, just as he doesn't bother the characters in his plays. Shakespeare is similar to nature itself, and this is our greatest tribute to a writer or thinker. He just lived in the world, observed life and finally left.