Coffee Cup Analogy

[Riku3220]

Ya, a really cheesy and lame point that makes people sick. Like motivational posters.

 

Or maybe you're just unable to comprehend the importance of the point, whereas you consider yourself above the need to learn from the lesson and therefore it is "lame"?

 

The point being enjoy life and don't worry about the cup? The cup being jobs, possessions and so on?

 

Yeah..That's a great lesson to teach people. That they don't need to worry about how they'll support their life as long as they enjoy it.

 

The thing is, your quality of life does now depend on jobs, money and social standing. If not, then what is there to enjoy?

The cup is luxuries. Fancy cars, clothes, and a harem will only make you happy for a little before you want more.

[Kiriyama]

Though if you look at the original, it states that jobs and money are part of the cup.

 

If you don't even slightly worry about either of those, you'll end up broke and jobless, without access to the things necessary to sustain life, food, clothing, warmth and shelter.

 

Hell, even your social standing can have an effect on your happiness. If you don't worry about how you appear to others, you'll be alone and miserable. Humans are social creatures, we basically need interaction with our peers.

 

Looks like the cup is pretty important to me.

[dsavi]

That analogy was really corny and didn't even make sense. How can you be happy if you don't have a job to not pay for the food you eat? Maybe Lenin's low-quality cup analogy applies there.

You obviously didn't "get" the analogy.

It was never about going jobless or even about going with "stuff". It was about enjoying life (coffee) and not worrying about the much less meaninful things that are in your life (the cup).

People in the story chose only the best cups, whereas they all just wanted the coffee so why did the cup matter?

You don't seem to get what I mean. How can you enjoy the coffee if you don't have a cup?

[Nenga]

That analogy was really corny and didn't even make sense. How can you be happy if you don't have a job to not pay for the food you eat? Maybe Lenin's low-quality cup analogy applies there.

You obviously didn't "get" the analogy.

It was never about going jobless or even about going with "stuff". It was about enjoying life (coffee) and not worrying about the much less meaninful things that are in your life (the cup).

People in the story chose only the best cups, whereas they all just wanted the coffee so why did the cup matter?

You don't seem to get what I mean. How can you enjoy the coffee if you don't have a cup?

It's not about not having a cup, it will always have a cup. It's about not being concerned with the cup you have and taking the time to enjoy the coffee.

[dsavi]

Yes, I get that. However:

Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups."

[pfilc23]

Not to detract from the point of the story (which is valid), but to play devil's advocate you can use the analogy to make the opposite point. Cups that are different can greatly affect the coffee and the experience of drinking it. As already mentioned the obvious is that some cups (crappy syrofoam, plastic) will affect the flavor of the coffee. Some cups hold more coffee than others. Some cups have rims that are more pleasurable to drink from. Some cups will help keep the coffee hot longer. Some cups have handles which will keep your hand from getting burnt if the coffee is too hot. Some cups have a sturdy base that can keep the coffee from getting spilled. The choice of cup can be important. :)

[Rebdragon]

pfilc makes a great point. To add to it, think about how much money beverage companies pour into marketing teams for designing the outside of their can. As weird as it is, beyond catching the eye of a customer, the right colored can can make a drink taste better. Think about it, would Coke seem to taste as good to you if it wasn't in it's trademark red can? What if it was dark brown? That's the frikkin' color of the drink, and that sounds awful to me, and thanks to a form of gustatory placebo effect the drink actually seems to taste worse because of that negative reception of the appearance.

 

So, your ankle deep analogy sucks further.