June 10, 2008
-
WCFQ 8a: Happiness and Purpose
No, I don’t believe that they can. Existence without purpose leads to ennui. This is why the rich never seem to be happy and why suicide is so attractive to so many.Though most people think they would be quite content to do nothing forever, they soon learn that with no purpose, they have no will to do much of anything else either… like get out of bed, bathe, or eat. We need something to occupy our time, whether it is a task we decide upon (what do you want to be when you grow up?) or which someone else assigns to us which we accept for expediency’s sake (do you want fries with that?). Personal preference would be for a self-designated task, but not everyone has a good handle on what they’d like to do and fewer still have any idea of how to get paid for it. They settle for what others tell them to do in order to get the things to which society assigns importance.
An animal at the zoo with all its needs met still restlessly paces back and forth in its cage. It would choose to be free like any other being if it could. When a human being cages the mind in an inactive body, it races back and forth like an animal in a cage… longing for new stimuli despite the fact that it “gets everything it needs to survive.” When no new stimuli is forthcoming, it becomes bored and depressed and even a little mad. A person without purpose cannot be happy for long. The mind will inevitably turn on itself when left to its own devices.
June 10th
In the year 1692, the persecution of “witches” began in Salem, Massachusetts with the hanging of Bridget Bishop. She was the first of nineteen men and women accused of witchcraft and murdered.
This is the Persian Day of Anahita. (See also April 11th)
Comments (5)
My ‘purpose’ has ended – children grown, and I (we) did a damn good job!!! Now I read and try to learn something new everyday – so I guess that’s my new purpose. As for the zoo – I love to see the animals, but HATE to see them pacing.
Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology, was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a rock up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. In a philosophical essay by Albert Camus – the Myth of Sisyphus, concludes “The struggle itself…is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
I agree with you. I look at life as a set of finish lines. I always have some direction that I’m heading, some goal that I am trying to reach. If I didn’t have it. I think that I would wander aimlessly…
That’s the most difficult aspect of “coping” with my issue right now: what’s the purpose?
what’s the purpose of being healthy?
what’s the purpose in going to work? (other than i have student loans to pay?)
what was the purpose of going to school?
what’s the purpose in caring?
what’s the purpose of eating, bathing, sleeping?
what’s the purpose?
i’m having a hard time finding purpose-
@travelerblue - They say the key to staying young is to never stop learning new things. They’ve known this since ancient Rome. I am always delighted to learn new things myself. I can’t think of anything that gives me more pleasure.
@Wes_Gumbo - Assuming Sisyphus accepts the task he is given, instead of having the task thrust upon him. Even if he accepts the task in resignation, he might come to be happy with it, knowing his purpose and coming not to aspire to anything more. But I imagine that even if he is happy “now” with the task he was given, he was not in the beginning of his punishment. That’s the difference right there. If you have a purpose which you accept, you may find happiness in it even if it is not very glamorous, but if you are given a purpose which you despise, you can never be happy with it until you accept it.
@couldquitepossiblybeme - Definitely… without a goal there is no hope. Even if some days the only goal is making it to the next day.
@triskele_81 - I can’t tell you your purpose. It has to be something you choose for yourself or accept or it won’t be fulfilling to you. But it seems to me the broadest purpose or reason for all the things you mention is so that you can be there for those you love and who love you. If you can think of one thing that you really and truly want and then decide what steps must be taken to reach it, you’ve determined a purpose for yourself, even if it is only a temporary one.I have many purposes, some of them are for me and the gratification of my desires and others are for my species and the world.