Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Buried Life link added


I've also added a link to The Buried Life, four young guys whose attitude toward life has blown me away. I guess, having four daughters, two of whom are on the cusp of womanhood - yes, I'm bracing myself - has made me susceptible to the message inherent in The Buried Life. Effectively, what these four young men have done is respond to the immortal question they asked themselves: Why are you doing this? (Reminded me of the Talking Heads song that asks the immortal question, How do I work this? How many times have I asked myself that question?) They gave themselves the name The Buried Life, taken from a Matthew Arnold (1852) poem:

"But often, in the world’s most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;"

Ostensibly, they decided they were on a mission to accomplish their Bucket List (100 things to do before you die.) But it turned out to be much more complicated than that (and at the same time much simpler). Here's what they say on their website:

Life moves fast and we wanted to slow down and enjoy it. To do that we had to ask ourselves some important questions, most importantly: What do I need to achieve or experience before I die? When we turned the question on strangers, we were fascinated with the answers we received. Given the ultimate deadline, people are forced to ignore the day-to-day trivialities that sometimes bury their lives and evaluate their most personal dreams and ambitions. Ultimately, we want to get people excited about doing whatever it is they dream about doing. Why wait? We are also curious to know about the state of our generation, our values and the role we are play in today’s society. Really though, we want to have fun and help people.

Check them out.

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