You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.
- Breastfeeding
- Dental Health
- Diseases/Disorders
- Expert Q&A
- Family Health
- Heart Health
- Kids' Health
- Men's Health
- Mental Health
- Mindfulness
- Skin Conditions
- Special Needs
- Tip of the Day
- Weight Loss
- Women's Health
- Favorites Program
- © 2023 30Second Mobile
join 30seconds weekly newsletter
"life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived": can you dig it by gail harris.
"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived."
This quote from poet Nietzsche is quite profound, if you think about it. While written years ago, it’s timeless. To me, it says that when we make achievement and success the be-all-and-end-all of life, we miss the joy that comes from knowing that life is truly a mystery.
Haven’t you noticed that the most meaningful times occur not when your goal is achieved, but when something unexpected happens? We spot our soul mate across the room. We find a personal message hidden in a billboard. We land the perfect career by accident. There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. Ignore it. Or embrace the mystery, and have a heck of a lot more fun. Here’s how to begin:
- Admit that you don’t know – daily.
- Choose to seek the truth.
- Trust your heart.
OK, ladies and gentlemen. It’s up to you.
Take 30 seconds and join the 30Seconds community . Inspire and be inspired.
Related Products on Amazon We Think You May Like:
Your Heart Knows the Answer $10
Finding Zoe $15
Books by Nietzsche $3 & Up
30Second Mobile, Inc. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
#MotherhoodRocks: Life Feel Like a Virtual Reality Game? Then Get Real!
#MotherhoodRocks: Why You Need to See Yourself Through Your Child's Eyes
#MotherhoodRocks ... to the Beat of Your Own Drum: Here's How to Keep Hearing It!
#MotherhoodRocks When You're Footloose & Fancy-free: Say What? Read On!
- collections
join discussion
Recommended tips.
Skip the Potato Chips: How to Prep So You Grab Healthier Snacks!
The Health Benefits of Cinnamon: Why You Need to Sprinkle This Spice on Everything
Relax About Flax: Simple Ways to Add Flax Seeds to Your Diet!
A Toast to Tea Time: Possible Health Benefits of Drinking Green Tea!
Manage collections, embed tip on your site.
- Media/Press
- Contest Rules
"Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved." —Soren Kierkegaard
My life is an unsolvable problem
Don't worry, in the end life always solves itself.
That’s because they don’t want you to solve it.
i dont understand the quote because i think what it is saying is that we should stay ignorant but happy instead of trying to find answers. Can you explain if im wrong ?
I think you're close. Kierkegaard believed that trying to make sense of life, to find meaning by thinking, was ultimately unsatisfying, and he recommended that people make a "leap of faith" (I believe he actually coined the term) and just believe In Christianity or whatever. He thought that faith was the only thing that could provide solace and fulfillment to people. Tolstoy reached a similar conclusion in his "Confessions." He didn't necessarily think faith was ignorant, he thought that it didn't matter whether it was ignorant or not.
I disagree. Trying to convince yourself to believe in something? It doesn't really work in the long run.
Although I disagree With K, I actually like the quote because I think it can be interpreted a different way: life cannot be solved, and it cannot be won, because it is pointless, and because humans are actually pretty powerless. So you should just experience as much of it as you can, while you can, and accept life on its own terms, and hope that you end up happier overall. Also, because humans are fundamentally emotional with a little reason sprinkled on top, we are more satisfied by experience than we are by facts. But that doesn't mean we have to ignore facts or be ignorant. I believe you can confront reality and be happy at the same time, as difficult as it may seem.
Sorry if I overexplained this.
Dont worry - go live your life! Søren Kierkegaard is a legend
I’ve also read it quoted as “Life is a reality to be experienced, not a problem to be solved.”
About Community
„The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.“
Source: Dune
Frank Herbert 158
Related quotes.
„Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved“
— Adriana Trigiani American film director 1970
Source: Big Stone Gap
„Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.“
— Thomas Merton Priest and author 1915 - 1968
Attributed to Merton in a number of sources, the earliest located being Studia mystica, Volumes 5-6 (1982), p. 76 http://books.google.com/books?id=59EYAAAAIAAJ&q=%22problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. This does not attribute a direct quote to Merton, but says "To use another of Merton's favorite distinctions, for Furlong Merton's life is seen principally as a problem to be solved, which it was, in the final analysis, successfully, rather than a mystery to be lived". The next-earliest source located is the 1998 book The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon by Mark Bryan and Julia Cameron, which attributes the exact quote to Merton on p. 152 http://books.google.com/books?id=CghAQDPahhcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA152#v=onepage&q&f=false. In reality this seems to be a slightly altered version of the quote "The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved; it is a reality to be experienced" which appeared in the 1928 book The Conquest of Illusion by Jacobus Johannes Leeuw, p. 9 http://books.google.com/books?id=OFdVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. Misattributed
„Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.“
— Sören Kierkegaard Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813 - 1855
Attributed to Kierkegaard in a number of books, the earliest located on Google Books being the 1976 book Jack Kerouac: Prophet of the New Romanticism by Robert A. Hipkiss, p. 83 http://books.google.com/books?id=g_JaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. In the 1948 The Hibbert Journal: Volumes 46-47 the quote is referred to as "the famous Kierkegaardian slogan" on p. 237 http://books.google.com/books?id=UuDRAAAAMAAJ&q=%22the+famous+Kierkegaardian+slogan+life+is+not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor, which may be intended to suggest the phrase is Kierkegaard-esque rather than being something written by Kierkegaard. In reality this seems to be a slightly altered version of the quote "The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved; it is a reality to be experienced" which appeared in the 1928 book The Conquest of Illusion by Jacobus Johannes Leeuw, p. 9 http://books.google.com/books?id=OFdVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. Misattributed
„We must be willing to fail and to appreciate the truth that often "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived."“
— M. Scott Peck American psychiatrist 1936 - 2005
„The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.“
— Ludwig Wittgenstein Austrian-British philosopher 1889 - 1951
„Woman is the unfathomable, incalculable mystery, the problem that we men can never hope to solve.“
— P.G. Wodehouse English author 1881 - 1975
„Life is problems. Living is solving problems.“
— Raymond E. Feist , book Silverthorn
Source: Silverthorn
„We cannot solve life's problems except by solving them.“
Source: The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth
„Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos.“
— David Cronenberg Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor 1943
Source: Cronenberg on Cronenberg (1997), Ch. 1, P. 7
„It is necessary that each Marxist-Leninist understand that he can contribute to Marxism-Leninism with an atom of his experience, that every solution he finds, every experience he acquires, in the act of solving a problem, will be one more experience with which he enriches Marxism-Leninism, because Marxism-Leninism has been enriched so much precisely by the experience of millions and millions of Marxist-Leninists acting in the reality of life.“
— Fidel Castro former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba 1926 - 2016
Speech (20 December 1961) http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1961/esp/f201261e.html
„The cruel law of life is that a solved problem creates two new problems, and the best prescription for happy living is not to solve any more problems than you have to.“
— Russell Baker writer and satirst from the United States 1925 - 2019
"The Big Problem Binge," The New York Times (1965-03-18)
„Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved, take a deep breath.“
— Kimsa Sok Cambodian tour guide 2003
Source: https://quotepark.com/quotes/2101720-kimsa-sok-life-is-a-journey-to-be-experienced-not-a-problem/
„Life isn't fair,' Skulduggery said. 'In my experience, death isn't so different.“
— Derek Landy Irish children's writer 1974
Source: Death Bringer
„Making… an art out of your technological life is the way to solve the problem of technology.“
— Robert M. Pirsig American writer and philosopher 1928 - 2017
NPR Interview (1974)
„Persistence is the key to solving most mysteries.“
— Christopher Pike American author Kevin Christopher McFadden 1954
Source: Black Blood
„Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.“
— Max Planck German theoretical physicist 1858 - 1947
Variants: Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve. Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature, for in the final analysis we ourselves are part of the mystery we are trying to solve. Source: Where is Science Going? (1932)
„The -- the constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn't a cause. It's a symptom. It's what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not for you.“
— John McCain politician from the United States 1936 - 2018
2000s, 2008, (2008)
„If you cannot solve the proposed problem, try to solve first a simpler related problem.“
— George Pólya Hungarian mathematician 1887 - 1985
Mathematical Methods in Science (1977), p.164
„A problem adequately stated is a problem solved theoretically and immediately, and therefore subsequently to be solved, realistically.“
— Buckminster Fuller American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist 1895 - 1983
World Design Science Decade 1965-1975 Phase I (1965), Document 3 : Comprehensive Thinking, "Venus Proximity Day", p. 33 http://challenge.bfi.org/sites/challenge.bfi.org/files/pdf_files/wdsd_phase1_doc3.pdf 1960s Context: One of my working assumptions which has been proven successful so often as seemingly to qualify it as a reliable tenet is that A problem adequately stated is a problem solved theoretically and immediately, and therefore subsequently to be solved, realistically. Others have probably stated the principle in many ways. The assumption is that the inevitability of a solution's realization is inherent in the interaction of human intellect and the constantly transformative evolution of physical universe. At first the, only subconsciously apprehended, approaching confluences of complex events make themselves known intuitively within the intellectual weather. Then comes a gradually awakening consciousness of the presence of new families of differentiating-out challenging concepts of every day prominence. It is with these randomly patterning families of separate concepts that evolution is about to deal integratively. As a now specific unitary problem it may be disposed of effectively when and if that unified problem becomes "adequately stated" and thereby comprehensibly solvable.
„When you "get an idea," or "solve a problem," or have a "memorable experience," you create what we shall call a K-line.“
— Marvin Minsky American cognitive scientist 1927 - 2016
K-Linesː A Theory of Memory (1980) Context: When you "get an idea," or "solve a problem," or have a "memorable experience," you create what we shall call a K-line. This K-line gets connected to those "mental agencies" that were actively involved in the memorable event. When that K-line is later "activated," it reactivates some of those mental agencies, creating a "partial mental state" resembling the original.
Related topics
- Discussions
- Reading Challenge
- Kindle Notes & Highlights
- Favorite genres
- Friends’ recommendations
- Account settings
Frank Herbert > Quotes > Quotable Quote
“The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.”
Recommend to friends friends who liked this quote, 1910 likes all members who liked this quote.
This Quote Is From
Browse By Tag
- love (90654)
- life (70877)
- inspirational (68030)
- humor (41272)
- philosophy (27465)
- god (24901)
- inspirational-quotes (24459)
- truth (22314)
- wisdom (22058)
- poetry (20288)
- romance (20226)
- death (18399)
- happiness (17903)
- hope (17050)
- faith (16788)
- inspiration (15417)
- quotes (14825)
- life-lessons (14752)
- writing (14118)
- motivational (13918)
- religion (13795)
- spirituality (13398)
- relationships (13316)
- success (12691)
- life-quotes (12282)
- love-quotes (12138)
- time (11951)
- knowledge (10800)
- science (10748)
- motivation (10449)
Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.
Shmoop will make you a better lover...of quotes
Source: Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.
This line is spoken by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam in the novel Dune , written by Frank Herbert (1965).
This quote comes from Dune , one of the most well-respected sci-fi novels of all time. This baby launched a major franchise with a bunch of sequels, movies, and video games to follow. The first novel tells the story of Paul Atreides, whose family takes over governing the desert planet Arrakis (aka Dune), only to be betrayed by the evil rival Harkonnen family. As payback, Paul rallies the locals on the planet, igniting a rebellion that eventually makes him both a messiah and emperor of the universe.
While being a serious page-turner, the novel also manages to do a lot of deep thinking along the way. This particular quote comes early in the book, when the witchy Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam tries to give young Paul a little advice… ya' know, before he's the ruler of the universe and all that. By the end of the book, she's the one that has to listen to his words of wisdom—whether she likes it or not.
Where you've heard it
From your Facebook friend who's all about getting deep on social media.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back here it is, on a scale of 1-10..
You can't go around talking about the mysteries of life and expect people not to think you're pretentious.
Logging out…
Logging out....
You've been inactive for a while, logging you out in a few seconds...
W hy's T his F unny?
“ She said the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. So I quoted the First Law of Mentat at her: ‘A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it. ”
“She said the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. So I quoted the First Law of Mentat at her: ‘A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.”
— Frank Herbert
- Save image...
- Open in new tab
- Copy quote text
Beautiful Wallpapers and Images
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
[email protected]
Terms of use Privacy policy Quote Maker Contact us
© 2023 Quotefancy. All rights reserved.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
Soren Kierkegaard
Related Topics
Related authors, quotes to explore.
Elevating Leaders
tom @ tommccallum .com
book online meeting
+44 7583 584325
The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve
by Tom McCallum | Mar 25, 2022 | Open Leadership
The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience
A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.
Share this:
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
- Click to print (Opens in new window)
Life Is Not a Problem To Be Solved, But A Reality to Be Experienced
According to Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” Kierkegaard, along with other philosophers like Alan Watts and Rainer Maria Rilke, have argued that when you seek the answers to life, you’re asking the wrong question. Life is something to be experienced, not something to be solved.
Before you get too excited—sorry, I don’t have the answer.
But I do know that people generally fall into a couple camps with this question.
Two approaches to the question “What’s the answer to life?”
For others, the answer is unknowable. It’s like expecting an ant to know who the president is: it’s too many layers beyond understanding.
Life exists to be experienced.
The meaning of life may be unknowable, and perhaps the question is absurd
If the question “What’s the meaning of your dog’s life,” sounds absurd, that’s because it’s intended to.
He’s here to be a dog, and he’s doing a damn fine job of being a dog.
Are you a human who’s experiencing life? Are you making mistakes, finding inspiration and creating, being brave and being afraid, lying and being honest, experiencing happiness and sadness , starting and then giving up and then trying again?
The meaning of life according to Søren Kierkegaard
Here’s what Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard had to say:
“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
The meaning of life according to Alan Watts
A similar take is found in this perspective from philosopher Alan Watts :
“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
The meaning of life according to Rumi
Rumi shows the power of poetry to dance around big questions of meaning , questions that have a tendency to slip away when you try to address them head on:
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn’t make any sense.”
The meaning of life according to Rainer Maria Rilke
No one addresses the futility of chasing answers to big questions better than Rainer Maria Rilke .
“Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
Living with purpose—even when you don’t have all the answers
Humans need meaning.
The security of knowing that you’re here to simply experience life.
My mindfulness practice kicked off in 2016 with a ten-day silent retreat . Since then, I’ve read dozens of books about mindfulness and completed hundreds of hours of meditation. Thinking about what makes humans happy, calm, and peaceful is endlessly fascinating to me.
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived." This quote from poet Nietzsche is
Don't worry, in the end life always solves itself. ... That's because they don't want you to solve it. ... i dont understand the quote because i
„Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.“ ... Attributed to Merton in a number of sources, the earliest located being
Frank Herbert — 'The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.'
This line is spoken by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam in the novel Dune, written by Frank Herbert (1965). This quote comes from Dune, one of the most well-
Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived. Follow the path that is no path, follow your bliss.” — Joseph Campbell quotes from
She said the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. So I quoted the First Law of Mentat at her: 'A process cannot be
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. Soren Kierkegaard · Life Reality Problem Experienced
After this client conversation, the quotes above from one of my favourite books came back to me. The first part of the quote is best known: “the
According to Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.