What does this quote mean?

Question

* It is living and ceasing to live that are imaginary solutions. Existence is elsewhere.

By André Breton.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

It means that living and dying are mere phenomenon of the existence of a human soul. Breton, by this statement alone, demonstrates he has no value for his physical existence and thinks it is not the essence of existence. But the essence of human existence is consciousness, and without a mind with which to be concious of existence, existence is only rock and gas and other lives without yours in the picture.

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Answer 2

It means life is an illusion and the real thing is the soul which is connected to the almighty and that one has to understand, as the body is just a carrier of the soul. And to understand the almighty well many sages have shown the way. Not necessarily to renounce the world but to see god in everything and act accordingly, and u will find ur existence.

Answer 3

Meaning is subjective. It could mean anything

Answer 4

What he is trying to communicate is, this is not the real thing that we are experiencing presently, neither does non-experience or perhaps death present reality as it is. The answer he gives is nebulous at best, unless there is more to the quote. This a statement that is metaphysical in nature. The idea of the quote if I can hazard a guess, is that he is not sure himself, but believes it to be real. How does he define existence, what properties or qualities would he apply to this concept of existence. This smacks of a paradox, in which a real answer may not satisfy, nor I should guess any answer may satisfy.

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A possible solution.

Answer 5

Truth soars on the wings of Eternity. All else which is not eternal, is mere fancy, and though it may provide great leaps, ultimately this mere drop of ocean spray must be swallowed up by the Sea of Negation.

Find what leads to all Truth.

--May Baha'u'llah bless.
____[Glory of God]____
_______Amen_______

Answer 6

Whatever your thoughts on life is - be birth or death...... Life still continues... it exists everywhere and anywhere your eyes could reach to see.... there will always be existence . In the past, present and future.....

Thanks for asking. Have a great day!

Answer 7

Think "outside the box." If you only believe in life in death, your thinking is far too narrow. The great solutions are those which reach beyond the reasonable.

Answer 8

Andre Breton was huge in the surrealist art movement, so I suspect that he was making reference to that movement. "Living and ceasing to live" are his reference to everyday life, "Existence is elsewhere" is his reference to the human propensity to the sub conscience mind where the one true self of each human resides. Make any sense?

Answer 9

It's like most things in life, it's what you make of it. Nothing less and nothing more. Just remember that perception is something that we all have thats our own. Yes, it's effected by what we see, hear, smell, touch or taught.

If a computer stop working is not longer a computer?
Does it no longer exist? No it's still a computer.

If a caterpillar turns into a butterfly is it still a caterpiller? No it's now a butterfly and can now spread it's wing to a new life.

Answer 10

It means what means to the person quoted. There's nothing profound in that quotation

Answer 11

my interpretation:
living and ceasing to live are only imaginary for we do not know what existence means.

i do not know Andre Breton so i do not know how to interpret this quote. I suggest you know his line of thought and contextualize the quote

Answer 12

It means that Andre Breton enjoyed hallucinogens.