The Tippler and the Conceited Man

How ignorant the Lamplighter, the King, the Geographer and the Businessman are - they have no idea that the wisest of all is not among them. The wisest of all is the Tippler. No, the wisest is the Conceited Man. Well, well, both are the wisest of all. Only they understand the meaning of living.
To live is to indulge oneself in self-creation and self-destruction. Who doesn't know that life is an impregnable cycle of existence and nonexistence? And who doesn't know that it takes the force of Big Bang to break this cycle? This is nature - the fact of life. You can fly to the moon or go twenty thousand leagues under the sea. But take heed, my dear, take heed - one day, when you are old and bitter and all shriveled up, you would have to return to the little cottage that you came from and to the warm embrace of your beloved mother.
Go ahead and regard yourself as the knight on a white horse or damsel in distress. Go ahead, but please remember that you are no knight and no damsel. They say you should be and could be one, but you are not one. They build the fortress and send you the horse, they call you a knight and a damsel, but you know - deep inside you know - that you are no knight and no damsel. Then one day, they come to you and say that there is another knight and another damsel. You do not have the might of that knight nor the dismal of that damsel. They take away your fortress and your only horse and give you a pat on the back and a little pension.
"It is time for you to retire," they say. So you pack up and return to the little cottage you were born in. Then you realize that Mama is right.
"Fly, my child, fly. But remember to come back one day and bury your wings. You are not a sparrow after all and you can not fly forever," she once said. You take off the wings and bury them, but your legs feel funny and your head feels light. And you would have thought that this would never happen to you. Who knows. Who knows.
Do not despair, my dear, for there is a way out of this cycle. Do not touch those wings and do not fly. You can never fall if you never fly. Just drink - and live in constant nonexistence. Or bask yourself in praises - and live in constant existence.
"And now here is our secret, a very simple secret," the tippler and the conceited man said, "forget the past and forget the future. Take a bow, take the exit and live in the present."
Let us follow the piper and leave the town of Hamelin. Let us just leave.