Is life really as Shakespeare’s Hamlet describes it?

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

Are we really living our lives by playing ‘roles’ that we develop by intellectual mastery?

[[As you consider this question and try it on for size re your own life situation, there is something important that you may miss taking into account in this process.   You can ‘check yourself out’ for whether you missed it or not at the bottom of this essay.]]

Surely, animals don’t acquire their ‘mother’, ‘father’, ‘protector’, ‘lover’ roles by intellectual mastery, so why should we think that we do? (more…)