What is a good metaphor for life?

I think life is like a computer. We can choose to use it for legitimate purposes and for the greater good or we can just dick around.

@buckyboy28 Thats a good one, but is that the first thing that came to your mind? And do you have other metaphors? I want as many as you can think of. I want this to be a very thoughtful discussion. The more the merrier. :)

It’s just a ride.

Let the river do the rowing.

a box of chocolates?

Life is a bad joke. Some people take it too seriously, some people laugh it off, and most people just don’t get it.

Tastes like chicken?

L-I-F-E

little idiots finding eternity

Life is a more or less complex system of chemical reactions. It is the mold on a formerly good piece of bread. The moss covering a brilliant crystal. The fly in the beautiful soup of the universe.

Sometimes Life gets in the way of Living.

Life is like mastrubation. If you stroke it long enough, good things will come.

“It was your life that taught me the purpose of all life. The purpose of life is to end.”

Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you’re fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love.

L-I-F-E

love inspire forgive edify

A tire iron.

Starts to feel good when you aren’t beatin’ yourself in the head with it.

@Grisaille Could you elaborate on that? What is good about it if aren’t beating yourself with it?

The building blocks of Life are given to us like play blocks for little children. You gotta build something out of them yourself.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned the classic metaphor of life as a journey exeplified by Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken.

@MagsRags Are there any more metaphors about life that you can think of @MagsRags that are also in poems?

I think if you’re reading books like “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens”, you’re missing the point.

@the100thmonkey How so?
That book is good for a great many things and even if it is a bit cheesy they are great lessons to be had in that book; organization for example.

One of the greatest Philosophers of the Twentieth Century:

“That’s life, that’s what all the people say.
You’re riding high in April,
Shot down in May
But I know I’m gonna change that tune,
When I’m back on top, back on top in June.

I said that’s life, and as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks,
Stompin’ on a dream
But I don’t let it, let it get me down,
‘Cause this fine ol’ world it keeps spinning around

I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,
A poet, a pawn and a king.
I’ve been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself, flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.

That’s life
I tell ya, I can’t deny it,
I thought of quitting baby,
But my heart just ain’t gonna buy it.
And if I didn’t think it was worth one single try,
I’d jump right on a big bird and then I’d fly

I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,
A poet, a pawn and a king.
I’ve been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself laying flat on my face,
I just pick myself up and get back in the race

That’s life
That’s life and I can’t deny it
Many times I thought of cutting out
But my heart won’t buy it
But if there’s nothing shakin’ come this here july
I’m gonna roll myself up in a big ball and die
My, My”

Thats pretty creative to put it into a song; I didn’t know Frank had a philophical side. :) So @Blondesjon what do you see in that song other than the obvious?

@Ailia . . . The obvious is my philosophy. Life is everything we try to fool ourselves into forgetting.

@jaketheripper took my answer.

@Blondesjon Well I got something different from the poem, what I think was “obvious” about that poem is that not matter how hard we fall we need to get back up and thats true for anyone whether you are a pauper or a king. But I also see your point as well, just that to me that is less obvious.

@Ailia . . .it all becomes clear in the final verse. . .

A long strange trip

All is dark. How long it’s been like this, there’s no way to know. Time stands still when there’s nothing to measure it by. Is there anything out there in the darkness? Is there an “out there’?

Instantly, a massive screen explodes with light, forms and colors. Music booms from speakers somewhere. A story unfolds in the images on the screen, a tale sloppily written, all about some odd little creature chasing the flickers of color drifting across the screen, snatching at them and opening his hand to find it empty. It’s not at all clear whether the story is meant to be a comedy or a tragedy. Sometimes the odd creature cries, sometimes laughs, sometimes seems to chase the flickers out of pure joy, sometimes by habit or obligation.

At one moment in the story, the creature pauses in his chase and seems to look out from the screen, as if trying to see who might be watching the spectacle. But there is no one watching.

Then, all is dark.

@Blondesjon Actually that was the most confusing part for me. What exactly did he mean by that?

Somebody please, help me to accept the things I cannot change
Then I will change the things that I can
And enough wisdom to know when I am beating my head against a brick wall!

@Harp . . . Beautifully put.

@Ailia . . . It means that Life will always change you before you change Life.

Life sucks, then you die.

@ChazMaz . . . not a very cheery outlook for a guy with tits for eyes.

Life is what happens after you stop making plans.
But plan anyway.

I wouldn’t dare reduce it to a metaphor. I am not that earnest or maudlin.

Life is like a movie – yours can be straight to video or a blockbuster

Surfing the endless wave.

@daloon
Very poetic. +5

I always think of a leaf—blossoming in the spring, flourishing in the summer, pushed out (I just learned—by the tree) in the fall.

These two are great:

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”—Maria Robinson

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”—Ashley Smith

@mattbrowne – The Maria Robinson quote is really a good one, there is always hope!
ga

From equal eyes and empathy, a revolution begins now.