Philosophy of Life

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar (might have been a pickle jar) and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2 in diameter. He asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was. So then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the student again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The students laughed. The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else, said the professor, I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things -- your family, your partner, your health, your children -- anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

Philosophy Test

An eccentric philosophy professor gave a one question final
exam after an entire semester dealing with a broad array of
topics.

The class was already seated and ready to go when the
professor picked up his chair, plopped it on his desk and
wrote on the board: "Using everything we have learned this
semester, prove that this chair does not exist."

Fingers flew, erasers erased, notebooks were filled in furious
fashion. Some students wrote over 30 pages in one hour
attempting to refute the existence of the chair.

One member of the class however, was up and finished in
less than a minute.

Weeks later when the grades were posted, the rest of the
group wondered how he could have gotten an A when he had
barely written anything at all.

They found his answer consisted of two words: "What chair?"