Yes, I know I just blogged about act III, but this quote got me thinking few days after reading it and I have a few things to share. Hamlet got to this point in his life through a body of information that came his way during grief. When I see this quote, "To Be or Not To Be", I first say to myself, what does it mean to be and what does it mean not to be. 'To Be' simply means to be in existence on earth as a human being and to 'Not Be' means our absence or in-existence on earth . But more specifically in saying "To Be or Not To Be", Hamlet was referring to the consequences or the price for existing on earth and what it means to be gone from earth. To be calls for flexibility as the times and our circumstances in life are not static. To be means there will be joy, happiness, sadness, peace, frustrations, resistance, opportunities, opposition, betrayal, defeat, loss, success, uncertainty and envy; which we all have to face in life. This points out to us that life is in seasons and this is a fundamental principle we must understand in order to live life as it was made to be. This was a principle I'm certain Hamlet didn't know much about as we can see him get overwhelmed by the current season of life he was in. The critical part about this principle is that if it is not understood and is taken for granted, the decisions we make in specific seasons of our lives, either good or bad, influences and bleeds into the next season of life we are to enter. For instance, if a farmer is currently in an harvest season and doesn’t recognize or discern that he has to also plant seeds at the same time while harvesting, the farmer will suffer the consequences of the decision to just harvest in the next harvest season. When the next harvest season comes he will have nothing to harvest as he had not maximized his previous season. This is the same with life, when we find ourselves in the midst of unthinkable situations we must recognize that seasons are temporary and they are subject to change. Hamlet just like in the farmer's analogy isn't maximizing his current season and I'm certain, though I don't know what is to come for Hamlet in the final two acts, he will face the consequences of the decisions he is currently making, in the next season of his life.
Hamlet finds himself in probably the most difficult and trying seasons of his life and he is not sure how to manage it so he goes on to contemplate on the very essence of existence and the ability to escape into another realm through 'deep sleep'; in his saying "To Be or Not To Be". Hamlet thinks about suicide as an opportunity to escape the seasons of life, but he is paralyzed by his belief in God. He knows that God does not condone suicide, so he goes on to think on why we chose to remain in a world that is inconsistent instead of entering another realm and he concludes that it is the uncertainty of the afterlife that stops us as no one from the dead as ever returned to tell us about their experiences. To conclude, I'll say life is not a sprint but a marathon, and like a marathon not many people has the capacity to run it, not to talk of finishing it. The best of us who have mastered the seasons of life on how to maximize them are the ones that finish well and are remembered throughout history. People like Martin Luther King Jr. who faced great resistance and opposition are remembered till today not because they faced tough situations in life, but because they were able to overcome. Not 'being' is of course filled with uncertainty but its the same for everyone and some people still manage to live in the now and decide to face tomorrow when the time come.
Hamlet uses the phrase "To Be or Not To Be" but instead I think it's more a matter of "To Be and Not To Be". To Be and Not To Be are both inevitable because in order to not be you must first be. You can't chose between the two but what we can chose is the amount of time we chose to fight in our 'To Be' stage and rise above the seasons of life like the greatest amongst us have done. 'To Be' is a place of time whereas 'Not to Be' is eternal. We are designed to enter the stage of 'Not to Be' when we have fulfilled our purpose in the stage of 'To Be' within time. Therefore, our 'To Be' stage is limited because of the existence of time. This is why maximizing the seasons of time is very critical to the fulfillment of our destiny and/or our purpose on earth. Our purpose and hope of what is to come, keeps us going everyday. Show me a man that has discovered his true purpose, and I'll show you a man that will raise above the seasons of life. Purpose is like stair railings and it protects you from error and keeps you focus on the end-goal. Can I then propose that one of the reasons of Hamlet's struggles in his current season of life is as a result of lack of purpose or more accurately lack of his true purpose? Well, I'll leave it at that today. I know this blog post is quite long but just some thoughts that I had after reading act III. Hope this made you think. Feel free to leave you thoughts in the comment section!
Until next time!!
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