I'm still trying to find a word I like better that sums up the idea concisely.
Many people feel that talk about philosophy belongs to the domain of "professional" philosophers: grey, bearded professors in universities. These "pros" read Kant, Hegel, and Decarte; they speak of metaphysics, existentialism, and other deep-sounding terms.
But philosophy is about life, really. It is what gets you out of bed in the morning, and what lets you sleep at night. Philosophy (and religion) are how you deal with your life. It provides answers to basic questions like:
That last one is where the rubber meets the road.
Some people devote their lives to some cause or ideal: the enviroment, justice, freedom, or God. Others devote their lives to acquiring wealth and power, hoping to feel good about themselves. Others devote their lives to distraction: watching TV, watching sports, watching the world go by. Others need to live on the "edge", by feeling constantly stimulated they feel truly alive. So they are into extreme sports, drugs, sex, rock 'n roll, and such.
Yes, I know that I'm being extremely unfair to, well, everyone in the world. Stick with me for a moment, though. There's a difference between doing something, and having that be your life's pursuit. I'm talking about the latter here.
In the big scheme of things, it doesn't matter what you accomplished.
It doesn't matter if you've build great buildings, they'll crumble to dust eventually. It doesn't matter if you've created great art, will be reviled or (even worse) forgotten eventually. It doesn't matter how many touchdowns you've scored (does anyone really care even now?). It doesn't matter how much money you've made, there'll always be someone richer. It doesn't matter how many women you've slept with, because Wilt Chamberlin's slept with more (if you believe him).
There is nothing you can do, there is nothing you can say, there is nothing you can create that is truly permanent, nothing that is truly important in the big scheme of things. The stars and planets will be shinning and spinning for billions of years after you (and everything you know, and anyone who might have even heard of you) have turned into dust.
And God? He/She/It/They created the Universe of billions of galaxies of billions of stars. There are probably billions of other planets out there with billions of other creatures on them. I'm sure God will get along just fine without your attention and devotion.
Forget the "importance" or "higher purpose" stuff. What does really matter? How can we make sense of our existence and bring meaning to it? Is there any real meaning at all? Do we have to have a purpose of existence?
Due to circumstances in my life a few years ago, I had to ask myself these questions. I rejected most of the answers that others have come up with.
It got real simple. I decided that I could live or die. But, even if I chose to live, I'll still die at some point. So I figured that I might as well try living for a while. And if that didn't work out, I could always just die.
This seemed to make sense.
I was then faced with another choice. I could either be happy or non-happy. Most of the people that I knew seemed to be mostly one or the other. They either lived and were happy, or they were just surviving. There didn't seem much point in surviving and being non-happy, so I chose to be happy.
Many people believe that happiness comes from what happens to you. It's been my experience that happiness is something that you choose. You decide to be happy, and then work to create it.
It's as simple as that.
There are a lot of truly happy people out there who build great buildings, score touchdowns, make money, and devote themselves to "higher" causes like the envionment or God. But they don't do it because they hope to be happy by accomplishing it. Rather, they do it because they are happy and that's how they express their happiness. You can tell it in their work.
Others, however, are some of the coolest people you'd ever meet. They are the most dynamic, interesting, fun, and easy to talk to people. You'll know which category the prof is in immediately upon meeting him/her.
This article is copyright (c) 1996 by: James C. Graves, Jr. / (ansible@xnet.com)