One of my all-time favorite jokes features a truly deep-thinking philosopher, who, after a lifetime in academia, in retirement has the leisure to finally delve at length into
What is the Meaning of Life?
Years wander past. No tome in any language — modern or ancient — is outside his purview. His correspondence is world-wide. His habits & organization, exemplary. And, no avenue of investigation is off limits : Moral, Legal, Intellectual, etc,
But satisfaction — the lightning bolt of inspiration — is missing.
He reads of Near Death Experiences and (at his age) figures there’s no loss if in walking up to the brink of Death, he fails to step back in time. His reputation was secured long ago. There are no relatives left.
The accounts of illumination from being brought back from the dead seem revelatory. It’s now the only road untaken.
Well-prepared as we would expect of him, he places pen & paper at hand, and turns on the gas to the stove.
In the moment he nearly blacks out and loses control, inspiration comes. He quickly writes what’s necessary. Closes gas knob. Crawls outside.
On recovering he can’t wait to see what he’s written. Decades of work, lifelong meditation, are at stake.
The paper with his handwriting reads,
“Think in other categories”.
.
