Yay, quote study 2. If I ever get to making the organised bloggies (I might after these damed exams) I might put up a section for these stuff.

Anyway, if one can see, this magus guy holds quite an ignornat attitude to life and all. If one did play throught Chrono Trigger (A Role-Playing game for the SNES) it would be much easier to understand the impact these words create. I'm prefer to concentrate on the ending part: "I must simply laugh." I totally agree with this. The concept and sense I mean. Well, what is magus laughing at?

His fate to die? After a bit of reading between the lines, one can see that it is his ignorance to his existance in the world. He is ultimately laughing at the world, and from my gaming experience, the people in it. Why? Stupidity. Let me digress.

Stupidity can be defined in many ways and can be measured through several fields. There is the extreme meaning to the usage of it as an insult with no particular relevance to its meaning, besides (Ironically) ignorance of some sort. Then again, stupdity is a sort of comparitive word. It comes in a pair. To describe it in math terms, its a linear graph. One end= stupidity, another end= smartness. Therefore, in the same case of the yin yang theory; stupidity cannot exist without smartness. I.e. there must be smart people before there can be stupid people, in order to have a comparitiave, scientifical measure.

Now, let me move on to another factor. Lets take it off from this quote, " the two most common elements in this world are hydrogen and stupidity." This ultimately potrays the world is stupid. To be a bit extreme, I believe if I do a quick survey, almost everyone would agree that the world, in some way, is stupid. That is when we take stupidity on a broad basis.

Lets see...Defination of stupidity from m-w.com is.......
the quality or state of being stupid, where stupid is defined as...

a : slow of mind b : given to unintelligent decisions or acts : acting in an unintelligent or careless manner c : lacking intelligence or reason 2 : dulled in feeling or sensation 3 : marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting

So, to take this literally. As long as we commit an action in a way lacking reason or do it in a slow fashion, we are stupid. This means... everyone is stupid in a way. I mean, you can't do everything in life can you?

Let me do a cross-reference to: Raintree Picture's I Not Stupid.
"Yin wei wo ben! Yin wei wo ben!" Direct translation: "Cos I'm dumb! Cos I'm dumb!"
No, I'm not empahzing on the plot, it has been already talked about several times and besides, its common sensical. Its just that this shows society is aware of the world's stupidity. Not the kid, the world. In what sense? Lets just say that society know that the world is stupid by insisting the students are stupid when they can't do the 1% of things taught in the classroom of the world and the kids know it by sarcastically stating that they are dumb.

+ Continued... My exams are over so I can take my time.......... For now.

To get back to the topic of the quote... What Magus is recognising in this statement is that the 2 most common elements in the universe is Hydrogen and stupidity. The key words in this quote are "history", "world" and "fate". What can they mean both literally and symbolically?

Very simply, "history; taken in the most negetive context would be the past mistakes of the world. Say for instance, on political level; the Treaty of Versallies which provoked Germany into world war 2. The action word to "history" is "changed". Well, Chrono Trigger is a game about time travelling and saving the world through changing history, in ignorance to the paradoxes. (Maybe it was explained in the "time splits" attribute seen in its sequel, Chrono Cross but I didn't play it anyway) So whats implied from this? Humans know. They know their mistakes and therefore want to correct them. And history changing, doesn't matter to him...

One might seem curious to this as if we assume that magus is being totally ignorant due to the world's stupidity, he might be cheered at the fact that Humans want to make up for stuff. But in reference to the next line, "If the world is to be destoryed, so be it." he shows that he doesn't give a damn about the world in the first place. Why? there could be several reasons. Vengence to it prehaps. Deep hatered and therefore a cold shoulder revenge. Is "so be it" a softerner to the impact of the words? As in a usage of neutrality? Prehaps..

And finally, if his fate were to die. i must simply laugh. I now digress once again to marvel at the impressive show of language. This simple translation we use to influence our thoughts into others... So powerful, so majestic.A very colourful vocabulary is sometimes not needed to produce some of the most inspiring literatures. Take the Bible for instance, simple and yet is radiating with might and power. Most of the time, its the usage of words that impress me. The several meanings that one can derive from a single statment. Appluase sessions to the author of these masterpieces should be conducted. Anyway, when we focus on the key words, one can read Magus' beliefs and ideas. We could literally see that he believes in fate but to put it another way, he could be one who were to think that circumstances ruined his chances at life and keeps him losing. Especially when he is talking about death, its as if he reached this stage where he knows that the world plays with him like a puppet and death is just another path that he can be swayed into. On the same basis, this is one reason why belief that life is a cycle and that we are all fated for things in life is so discouraging. I personally only believe in divine opportunity. A chance created by God. This would very well explain coincedences and stuff as such. Anyway, he states the effect of this fate of him as a joke- '' I must simply laugh" Notice the words "must" and "simply", they denote a extreme necessity for him to see it as a joke and that the task is what he should do. Simply. Laughter, the extreme opposite of what one might experiece in the face of death is probaly a silent mock to the stupidity that the world has. And maybe, his own stupidity to be consumed by such stupidity.

Indeed, reaching this point in life is silently scary. Yet totally believable. Humans afterall....are humans. The creatures of error. Oh, the irony is so damned overwhelming.

This reminds me of an extract of the lyrics from "In the Light" by DC talk.

I'll end this entry with it...

I keep trying to find a life On my own, apart from You

I am the king of excuses I've got one for every selfish thing I do

What's going on inside of me? I despise my own behavior

This only serves to confirm my suspicions, that I'm still a man in need of a Savior...

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