Aolist
03-06-2006, 10:08 PM
What do you think about the philosophy of this piece?
I wrote it March 2, 2005 and some of my views have changed since then, and overall, I'd really like to believe that the message of this essay is wrong....
Prosgression
I
awoke to the prattling of the anchorman this morning around an early six twenty. I searched the bottom of the screen for the cycling tag of delays and was severely disappointed to see only its absence. My head fell back to the soft pillow that I have become so fond of, and I rested for a few more minutes before turning the T.V off all together. A moment later grand, orchestral music trickled into my ears, and I awoke for the second time this morning. I bitterly rose from my covers and donned the clothes that I would wear for the next fifteen hours, and within the sixth hour of this morning, so did millions of other people.
Each and every morning billions of people rise to the day’s challenge and consciously make the choice to progress. From dawn till dawn are we ever charging, taking anything and everything life dishes out. Why? Why do we progress? We choose to move onward, ever onward into the jungles that are our lives. Why do we make this conscious decision? Why do choose progression over cessation? Why did I rise this morning instead of simply lying on my seductive pillow? Even now I choose to type this paper instead just stopping; instead of simply ceasing. I could easily do nothing, but instead I do something, as do we all. Why? Why do we do anything at all? It would be so much easier to simply shrivel away into the void of nothingness.
The lure of nothing is this: there is complete and utter peace. There are no responsibilities, there is no turmoil, there is no bliss, there is no happiness; there is only serene tranquility. There is only the calm atmosphere of nothing. The closest I’ve ever come to experiencing this nothingness is before my birth: I was nonexistent; there was nothing for me, and in this nothing, I was at peace. Because I did not exist, there were no obligations for me to fulfill, there was no longing for something more, there were no aches for love, admiration, or attention; there was simply nothing. Why do I choose to continue on in life, to endure the hardships when I could return to the nothing? Why does everyone on this planet continually progress instead of becoming nothing?
There are positives and negatives to life. Perhaps we rise each new day with hopes that the positives will outnumber the negatives. Or perhaps for some people, the positives are worth the negatives. Another option is that all we’ve ever done is progress, and therefore we know not how to stop, or we are afraid of unforeseen entailments and results of stopping and would rather continue with what we know than change course. In any case, the fundamental reason is either a form of happiness or content. These two states of being are the only reasons why we continue; they are essentially the sole factors that enable us to meet the tireless ascension of the blazing sun with the resolution to progress.
It is thus that the purpose of any individual’s life is, at the most basic level, to achieve of happiness, contentment, or both. In a different perspective: people will not subject themselves to unjustified discomfort; they will not seek displeasure for the sake of displeasure. On the contrary, people will seek out satisfaction; they will consciously make efforts to either justify or rid themselves of aggravation. In justifying a situation of discomfort, a person will become at least content with their actions. A single mother who strips at a club may only choose to do so because she feels obligated to feed and care for her children, thus she sacrifices her pride for her children, and if she is not happy about this, then she can at the very least live with herself; that is, she does not kill herself out of self-hate. The lack of attempt to change her lifestyle implies that she is content, and thus here purpose is to obtain contentment.
By ridding oneself of discomfort, a person will also be content, if not happy. The pang of hunger is no stranger to us, and to extinguish it from our bodies, we eat. If we eat delicious food, not only are we relieving ourselves of discomfort, be we also enjoy the consumption, and gain happiness. If we eat a food that is less than pleasant, we subject ourselves to temporary discomfort in an effort to terminate an otherwise permanent anguish. Thus, one discomfort is justified, and the other is purged, leaving only a feeling of satisfaction.
No one will refuse food if they are hungry unless somehow the refusal is justified. No one will choose to be hungry just for the shear sake of being hungry. No one will slit their wrists unless they feel they can progress to a better situation than the one they currently exist in. We progress because pain is bad; pain is bad and pleasure is good. We attempt to at the very least to dispel pain and if we are ambitious enough, to attain pleasure.
Instead of progressing, we could just stop. Instead of rising each morning, we could just lie in bed and do nothing. Would we become hungry? Yes. Would we attempt to stave off the hunger? Well, for most of us the answer is “yes.” Upon doing so we would realize that to expunge the hunger, we must eat, and to eat we need food. Most of us would then realize we need money for food, and then go back to work, and start to progress once again. But there are some people who would realize something else. There are those of us who might think: “Why eat when I’m just going to get hungry again? Why not just lie here in bed, and deal with the hunger until I die? Then, I would never be hungry again, and I would never have to work or do anything at all.” Yes, death is a way to achieve contentment, assuming that you don’t go to Hell, which may or may not exist. So why doesn’t everyone, according to my theory of life, simply commit suicide? Well there are several reasons why.
First of all, many people believe that the happiness life offers is worth discomfort. Second, to be quite honest, numerous people just don’t have the balls to go through with it. Others feel that they are tougher than that; they aren’t just going to take the easy way out. They feel compelled to continue living, even if it is just a cesspit of filth and misery. They are actually justifying discomfort by thinking, “I’m tough enough to deal with anything life gives me.” They obtain a sense of satisfaction from rising each day and completing a full day’s worth of obstacles. Still others believe that a god of some sort expects people to live, and they therefore live up to that expectation, thus obtaining satisfaction.
And so we press ever onward, into the light of new days and into the darkness of new nights. Always progressing, endlessly forcing one foot in front of the other with the will to live, simply because happiness and contentment are worth the formidable effort to survive.
I wrote it March 2, 2005 and some of my views have changed since then, and overall, I'd really like to believe that the message of this essay is wrong....
Prosgression
I
awoke to the prattling of the anchorman this morning around an early six twenty. I searched the bottom of the screen for the cycling tag of delays and was severely disappointed to see only its absence. My head fell back to the soft pillow that I have become so fond of, and I rested for a few more minutes before turning the T.V off all together. A moment later grand, orchestral music trickled into my ears, and I awoke for the second time this morning. I bitterly rose from my covers and donned the clothes that I would wear for the next fifteen hours, and within the sixth hour of this morning, so did millions of other people.
Each and every morning billions of people rise to the day’s challenge and consciously make the choice to progress. From dawn till dawn are we ever charging, taking anything and everything life dishes out. Why? Why do we progress? We choose to move onward, ever onward into the jungles that are our lives. Why do we make this conscious decision? Why do choose progression over cessation? Why did I rise this morning instead of simply lying on my seductive pillow? Even now I choose to type this paper instead just stopping; instead of simply ceasing. I could easily do nothing, but instead I do something, as do we all. Why? Why do we do anything at all? It would be so much easier to simply shrivel away into the void of nothingness.
The lure of nothing is this: there is complete and utter peace. There are no responsibilities, there is no turmoil, there is no bliss, there is no happiness; there is only serene tranquility. There is only the calm atmosphere of nothing. The closest I’ve ever come to experiencing this nothingness is before my birth: I was nonexistent; there was nothing for me, and in this nothing, I was at peace. Because I did not exist, there were no obligations for me to fulfill, there was no longing for something more, there were no aches for love, admiration, or attention; there was simply nothing. Why do I choose to continue on in life, to endure the hardships when I could return to the nothing? Why does everyone on this planet continually progress instead of becoming nothing?
There are positives and negatives to life. Perhaps we rise each new day with hopes that the positives will outnumber the negatives. Or perhaps for some people, the positives are worth the negatives. Another option is that all we’ve ever done is progress, and therefore we know not how to stop, or we are afraid of unforeseen entailments and results of stopping and would rather continue with what we know than change course. In any case, the fundamental reason is either a form of happiness or content. These two states of being are the only reasons why we continue; they are essentially the sole factors that enable us to meet the tireless ascension of the blazing sun with the resolution to progress.
It is thus that the purpose of any individual’s life is, at the most basic level, to achieve of happiness, contentment, or both. In a different perspective: people will not subject themselves to unjustified discomfort; they will not seek displeasure for the sake of displeasure. On the contrary, people will seek out satisfaction; they will consciously make efforts to either justify or rid themselves of aggravation. In justifying a situation of discomfort, a person will become at least content with their actions. A single mother who strips at a club may only choose to do so because she feels obligated to feed and care for her children, thus she sacrifices her pride for her children, and if she is not happy about this, then she can at the very least live with herself; that is, she does not kill herself out of self-hate. The lack of attempt to change her lifestyle implies that she is content, and thus here purpose is to obtain contentment.
By ridding oneself of discomfort, a person will also be content, if not happy. The pang of hunger is no stranger to us, and to extinguish it from our bodies, we eat. If we eat delicious food, not only are we relieving ourselves of discomfort, be we also enjoy the consumption, and gain happiness. If we eat a food that is less than pleasant, we subject ourselves to temporary discomfort in an effort to terminate an otherwise permanent anguish. Thus, one discomfort is justified, and the other is purged, leaving only a feeling of satisfaction.
No one will refuse food if they are hungry unless somehow the refusal is justified. No one will choose to be hungry just for the shear sake of being hungry. No one will slit their wrists unless they feel they can progress to a better situation than the one they currently exist in. We progress because pain is bad; pain is bad and pleasure is good. We attempt to at the very least to dispel pain and if we are ambitious enough, to attain pleasure.
Instead of progressing, we could just stop. Instead of rising each morning, we could just lie in bed and do nothing. Would we become hungry? Yes. Would we attempt to stave off the hunger? Well, for most of us the answer is “yes.” Upon doing so we would realize that to expunge the hunger, we must eat, and to eat we need food. Most of us would then realize we need money for food, and then go back to work, and start to progress once again. But there are some people who would realize something else. There are those of us who might think: “Why eat when I’m just going to get hungry again? Why not just lie here in bed, and deal with the hunger until I die? Then, I would never be hungry again, and I would never have to work or do anything at all.” Yes, death is a way to achieve contentment, assuming that you don’t go to Hell, which may or may not exist. So why doesn’t everyone, according to my theory of life, simply commit suicide? Well there are several reasons why.
First of all, many people believe that the happiness life offers is worth discomfort. Second, to be quite honest, numerous people just don’t have the balls to go through with it. Others feel that they are tougher than that; they aren’t just going to take the easy way out. They feel compelled to continue living, even if it is just a cesspit of filth and misery. They are actually justifying discomfort by thinking, “I’m tough enough to deal with anything life gives me.” They obtain a sense of satisfaction from rising each day and completing a full day’s worth of obstacles. Still others believe that a god of some sort expects people to live, and they therefore live up to that expectation, thus obtaining satisfaction.
And so we press ever onward, into the light of new days and into the darkness of new nights. Always progressing, endlessly forcing one foot in front of the other with the will to live, simply because happiness and contentment are worth the formidable effort to survive.