What does it mean??

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floatingbridge

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Hm, came across this interesting quote:

"When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

Anyone want to take a stab at interpreting it? :3





And then, maybe, I'll say what it means to me personally.
 
I cracked up when I read that. I've never heard that saying before. As soon as I read it I got a visual of people on fire :flame:. I can interpret this in several ways. In the literal sense if you are FREEZING, to stay warm you might consider setting yourself on fire, but then this would defeat the purpose of staying alive. Instead of freezing to death you would burn to death, he, he, he - slapstick.

More philosophical interpretations could be; the phoenix who rises from its own ashes; the stripping away and death of an unauthentic self/life; when you've exhausted blaming everyone else for your problems there is only yourself to blame; when you've burnt all your bridges all you have left is yourself; working through creative block and being willing to set yourself on fire for a little muse and inspiration.

It's a little like that saying "going up in flames". I suppose it depends on the context it's being used in.
 
This sounds like a Buddhist axiom. It calls to mind the idea of letting go of all your attachments and all your aversions, to bare yourself naked in the eye of your true, underlying mind. Once that is done you must burn away even that to see reality for what it is, void of all projections, judgements, expectations, ideations, concretizations. Just what is, and what is not. [of course I could be totally wrong]
 
pipsqueaka said:
Hm, came across this interesting quote:

"When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

Anyone want to take a stab at interpreting it? :3





And then, maybe, I'll say what it means to me personally.
Click to expand...

I found when I focused my attention on everything and everyone around me that I deemed was wrong - I'd end up burning them up and burning myself out... And still I was not happy or satisfied.

It wasn't until I quit focusing outward and turned the same attention upon myself - was I then able to set myself on fire with the passion of life which led to Joy. This of course was a long process of healing for myself.

I'm probably not saying it the best way.... but hopefully you're intuition will grasp my meaning.
 
pipsqueaka said:
Hm, came across this interesting quote:

"When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

Anyone want to take a stab at interpreting it? :3





And then, maybe, I'll say what it means to me personally.
Click to expand...

Some people put so much passion and energy into the people or things around them. Once they are done helping others (or the world:) ), they need to focus that passion on themselves.

Set yourself on fire! :)

Concentrate that passion on YOU.
 
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pipsqueaka said:
Hm, came across this interesting quote:

"When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

Anyone want to take a stab at interpreting it? :3





And then, maybe, I'll say what it means to me personally.
Click to expand...
It means never leave behind any evidence, or if you can't beat em join em.
 
pipsqueaka said:
"When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."
Click to expand...

It reads to me as the end realisation that much of a person's 'driven' or 'hyper-energetic' activity arises from an internal issue, rather than external issues. So that once you have changed everything around you and are still agitated, the realisation dawns that the problem, requiring reform, was within oneself.
 
No more fuel outside yourself left.

Or, when there's no other way, you have to sacrifice yourself.

Or, in the end, we all turn inward, to ourselves, for change, solutions, death, etc. Can be applicable to many things.
 
Song lyrics?

Eh, for me it sounds like a bit of masochism;
but yes, self-sacrifices could apply. A romanticized 'there-is-no-other-way' take on it.
 
burning-monk-1963-Vietnam.jpg
 
pipsqueaka said:
Hm, came across this interesting quote:

"When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

Anyone want to take a stab at interpreting it? :3





And then, maybe, I'll say what it means to me personally.
Click to expand...

Sometimes people burn themselves as a last ditch cry for help when they are being oppressed. I just looked it up it's called self-immolation. It's a form of martyrdom.
 
Flavus Aquila said:
It reads to me as the end realisation that much of a person's 'driven' or 'hyper-energetic' activity arises from an internal issue, rather than external issues. So that once you have changed everything around you and are still agitated, the realisation dawns that the problem, requiring reform, was within oneself.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my first image was one of lashing out and blaming others and then realizing change lies within oneself.
 
purplecrayons said:
Yeah, my first image was one of lashing out and blaming others and then realizing change lies within oneself.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is what I got from it immediately as well.

Relating to that is the quote from Jung that says: 'Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people'.

If people did the above more often, the quote in the OP would be redundant. Lashing out only to find yourself alone at the centre of your problems is the worst way.
 
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