Undeniably, the tired phrase had previously befallen my ears countless times. Still, scrolling the incessant facebook 'news feed,' I run across a 'friend's' deeply philosophical proclamation. Urging fellow humans to relax casually into the comforts of the world, he boldly asserts, "Don't take life so seriously; no one gets out alive anyway." Deep, I know. I may have, indeed, 'de-friended' this facebook connection that instant. In doing some pseudo-online-investigation, I located 2 highly unreliable sources indicating the source of said quote as one Frank Arduini, a name completely unfamiliar to myself. Essentially, the origin matters little (although the hermeneutical context could reveal so very much).
During my investigation, I happened upon many similar statements, frequently from historically famous literary voices. Apparently, Oscar Wilde quipped, "Life is too important to be taken seriously." While vacillating throughout his life, Mark Twain was also known to criticism the seriousness and striving toward transcendence in life.
Why has this banal phrase become so popular as a decry of the youth? Unearthing pain and failure, is engaging life in an attitude of fortitude and purpose, perhaps, too discomforting, too far from the comfortable couch of the suburban home and TiVo for most to justify? I wonder aloud, then, are you urging me toward relaxing-in-life due to your care for my wellbeing, or are you simply attempting to persuade yourself that your passive endurance of the mundane is how one should live? That is, does your neighbor's passionate striving and struggling through life discomfort you?
The question is "why not?", why not engage life in manner of sincerity and resolve? Rebutting with the wise words of, "because no one gets out alive" arises as a paradoxical fallacy. Whether through a Divine act of soul-on-earth or the absurd randomness of human's evolving from a mere accidental universe, one must recognize the blessedness shimmering through our unfathomable opportunity to live as humans, to simply be alive, a circumstance for which we have no answer. Simply, it is because we fail to attain immortality (at least here, in any form of which we know) that life surfaces as meaningful, as ultimately important.
Consider a scene from the gloriously existential program Six Feet Under: Making funeral preparations for a recently widowed women, Nate is posed a question of life-and-death. Wrought and void of meaning in life, the widow inquires, "Why does God make life so short?" Pausing momentarily, but surprisingly unnerved, Nate replies thoughtfully and brimming with sincerity, "I think, to make it special." That is, if immortal, one surrenders the urgency toward living. Forever possessing more time, one can always-and-ever "do it tomorrow." Mortality, as one of my mentors proclaimed, is God's greatest gift.
Contemplating in joy and wonder the vastness and possibility that is life , I readily acknowledge that there remains too much I wish to do given the brevity of life. So, then, I challenge you, why not take life seriously? Let us discontinue our pathologizing of individuals for being "stressed out" or "workaholics" or "never stopping to rest," if this is truly the manner in which they meaningfully wish to engage life. Why should I relax in life when there is so much to do? I respond, don't make me feel bad for engaging life just because you feel bad for disengaging from it, as it flies by your living room window with saddening rapidity. Take it seriously; go get it.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Nihilism vs. Meaning ... or ... Nihilism AND Meaning?
Dreamily and lyrically, Hermann Hesse crafted a tale so plagued with unanswerable questions and challenges that many-a-caring high school English & Literature teacher insisted that the developing adolescent mind be exposed to such. In concert with phenomenological thought, I am certain that each teacher possesses utterly unique reasons for engaging young minds with such a text, whether it be to illustrate to the (perhaps banal portrayal of) the 'all-knowing' teen that the universe possesses innumerable unknowns, or whether it be to illustrate that sometimes 'maturity' simply means following one's sometimes irrational heartfelt longings, even if that means brashly not following that which is popular and willfully outcasting oneself from acceptable society. I don't know, maybe I'm being too optimistic that there are such existentially-aiming or existentially-attuned high school literature professors (or maybe I am not giving enough credit to the moving endeavors of early educators...likely this much of the time). I will discuss at a later time the idea if one can ever be existentially-uninformed and, thus, not be existentially-aimed in their own unique manner. Again, another time...
In any case, the poetic Hesse offers a powerfully grave pondering through his protagonist, the spiritually wandering/seeking/questing Siddhartha:
"He saw merchants doing business, princes leaving for the hunt [...] and none of it was worth the trouble of his glance, it was all a lie, it all stank, it all stank of lies, it all gave the illusion of meaning and happiness and beauty, and it was all acknowledged decay. The world had a bitter taste. Life was torment" (Hesse, 1999, p. 7)
In a paradoxical amalgamation of concurrence and aversion, I encountered an unnerving and existentially-unraveling identification with Siddhartha. I vividly recall a placement in life where ambitions to "things," financial gains, and general comfort life seemed a worthy and reasonable goal, if not the goal of humankind. Viewing the life endeavors surrounding me, such consumeristic approaches to existence abounded. I believe that I, too, succumbed to Heidegger's 'The They' or Kierkegaard's 'The Crowd' ... the fallacy that if "all" seemingly find meaning in life in a similarly conforming manner, you too must 'fall into line,' for obviously this must be the meaning of life. Enter: "The American Dream." Clinically, this is where one may encounter an individual enveloped by the luxuries of materialistic life: 6-figure salary, large suburban mansion, SUV's, exotic vacations, and countless technological toys. Why, then, would such an individual who 'has it all' present for therapy? Because, underlying the societally-lauded 'success' remains an existential void, that all one does is mundane. One feels no desire to continue such a path. Befuddled themselves on how they can 'have it all' and still experience anxiety and discontent, they ask 'why am I not happy like everyone else?' (As a relevant aside - they frequently inquire why they can't be 'happy like everyone else' ... when, in fact, others feel the same ... also pointing to this particular client as 'happy' while they are not).
Ultimately, given this hypothetical individual is actually wrestling with the above, he/she may approach a horrifying and conclusion that, to life there exists no purpose & no meaning. Bestowed upon them as children and teens and maybe college students, the promise that things and status and comforts will satisfy the soul gradually (or abruptly and unexpectedly) deteriorates, rendering one groundless in life. Suddenly, existence reveals itself as a cruel accident (or divine joke...which makes little theological sense to me).
For Siddhartha, it was not really (at least, in my reading of it) that he was experiencing such a falling-out of the meaning of life. Rather, he appeared sickened by those deluding themselves into that concept that 'things' will satisfy the spirit. In that particular moment, he declared the human existence as and endless cycle of purposeless living; there existed no meaning to life. Saddened by such a mundane and absurd world, his answer was to depart, to spiritually flee the nihilistic cycle of life.
And here, in this nihilistic proclamation, I also encountered a dissonance with his 'answer' to a mundane and purposelessness existence. I will openly admit that an element in this diversion may be a fear of his terrifyingly accurate depiction of existence. I do conceding that living creatures (not solely humans, I maintain) are born into - 'thrown into' - a existence lacking an inherent meaning of life, hence the struggle with the belief that life is without purpose. However, resigning oneself to having to endure a meaningless life, and escape it for this reason like Siddhartha, neglects the wondrous freedom to shape one's ownmost meaning in life. The beauty, or perhaps Divine grace, is the allowance, the liberation to cultivate the life-purpose calling from within the heart of one's being. Random or Divine, I experience life as a blessing of which I am unworthy and fail to truly comprehend, not as a place to escape because we aren't externally bestowed with meaning.
In Siddhartha's defense (even though he is a fictional character), he was approaching the world from a Buddhist framework, rather than a philosophically existential modality (aren't we all existential, though?). Nevertheless, the fact remains that he was, his life meaning was a devotion to this quest of discovering another plane of existence, a spiritual transcendence in service. This all seem like existential meaning to me: motivating forces driving him into passionate living.
cultivating his ownmost meaning. Relinquishing comforts and accepting suffering was undeniably meaningful. Further, while looking to escape in manner
Moreover, I was in awe of his abandonment of possessions and comforts, while concurrently questioning if my comforts and possessions were a superficial manner of living? Granted, I no longer desire the multiple houses, countless amenities and toys. Still, I possess things I enjoy. I own a number of expensive musical instruments and recording equipment, and I find my meaning in moving others through song, or writing this pondering on a Mac computer. Nevertheless, in Siddhartha's ability to embrace suffering and minimize his own 'suffering footprint' on the rest of the world...I experience guilt. It is difficult reconcile, perhaps impossible.
But if I am truly being existential, banishing the idea of a 'correct' manner in living and existing, can I say that these people with ambitions in materials and comforts as 'incorrect?' Or is this my own religious coloring to existence? Or is it that I suspect that these individuals, if allowing such deep and unutterable acknowledgments to surface - that at their core being they feel absolutely void and empty - they would find 'things' as lacking any fulfillment of the soul? I must strive to be fair and respect all individuals' unique life purposes, however much they rub against my own. Oh, but it is so difficult sometimes.
In any case, the poetic Hesse offers a powerfully grave pondering through his protagonist, the spiritually wandering/seeking/questing Siddhartha:
"He saw merchants doing business, princes leaving for the hunt [...] and none of it was worth the trouble of his glance, it was all a lie, it all stank, it all stank of lies, it all gave the illusion of meaning and happiness and beauty, and it was all acknowledged decay. The world had a bitter taste. Life was torment" (Hesse, 1999, p. 7)
In a paradoxical amalgamation of concurrence and aversion, I encountered an unnerving and existentially-unraveling identification with Siddhartha. I vividly recall a placement in life where ambitions to "things," financial gains, and general comfort life seemed a worthy and reasonable goal, if not the goal of humankind. Viewing the life endeavors surrounding me, such consumeristic approaches to existence abounded. I believe that I, too, succumbed to Heidegger's 'The They' or Kierkegaard's 'The Crowd' ... the fallacy that if "all" seemingly find meaning in life in a similarly conforming manner, you too must 'fall into line,' for obviously this must be the meaning of life. Enter: "The American Dream." Clinically, this is where one may encounter an individual enveloped by the luxuries of materialistic life: 6-figure salary, large suburban mansion, SUV's, exotic vacations, and countless technological toys. Why, then, would such an individual who 'has it all' present for therapy? Because, underlying the societally-lauded 'success' remains an existential void, that all one does is mundane. One feels no desire to continue such a path. Befuddled themselves on how they can 'have it all' and still experience anxiety and discontent, they ask 'why am I not happy like everyone else?' (As a relevant aside - they frequently inquire why they can't be 'happy like everyone else' ... when, in fact, others feel the same ... also pointing to this particular client as 'happy' while they are not).
Ultimately, given this hypothetical individual is actually wrestling with the above, he/she may approach a horrifying and conclusion that, to life there exists no purpose & no meaning. Bestowed upon them as children and teens and maybe college students, the promise that things and status and comforts will satisfy the soul gradually (or abruptly and unexpectedly) deteriorates, rendering one groundless in life. Suddenly, existence reveals itself as a cruel accident (or divine joke...which makes little theological sense to me).
For Siddhartha, it was not really (at least, in my reading of it) that he was experiencing such a falling-out of the meaning of life. Rather, he appeared sickened by those deluding themselves into that concept that 'things' will satisfy the spirit. In that particular moment, he declared the human existence as and endless cycle of purposeless living; there existed no meaning to life. Saddened by such a mundane and absurd world, his answer was to depart, to spiritually flee the nihilistic cycle of life.
And here, in this nihilistic proclamation, I also encountered a dissonance with his 'answer' to a mundane and purposelessness existence. I will openly admit that an element in this diversion may be a fear of his terrifyingly accurate depiction of existence. I do conceding that living creatures (not solely humans, I maintain) are born into - 'thrown into' - a existence lacking an inherent meaning of life, hence the struggle with the belief that life is without purpose. However, resigning oneself to having to endure a meaningless life, and escape it for this reason like Siddhartha, neglects the wondrous freedom to shape one's ownmost meaning in life. The beauty, or perhaps Divine grace, is the allowance, the liberation to cultivate the life-purpose calling from within the heart of one's being. Random or Divine, I experience life as a blessing of which I am unworthy and fail to truly comprehend, not as a place to escape because we aren't externally bestowed with meaning.
In Siddhartha's defense (even though he is a fictional character), he was approaching the world from a Buddhist framework, rather than a philosophically existential modality (aren't we all existential, though?). Nevertheless, the fact remains that he was, his life meaning was a devotion to this quest of discovering another plane of existence, a spiritual transcendence in service. This all seem like existential meaning to me: motivating forces driving him into passionate living.
cultivating his ownmost meaning. Relinquishing comforts and accepting suffering was undeniably meaningful. Further, while looking to escape in manner
Moreover, I was in awe of his abandonment of possessions and comforts, while concurrently questioning if my comforts and possessions were a superficial manner of living? Granted, I no longer desire the multiple houses, countless amenities and toys. Still, I possess things I enjoy. I own a number of expensive musical instruments and recording equipment, and I find my meaning in moving others through song, or writing this pondering on a Mac computer. Nevertheless, in Siddhartha's ability to embrace suffering and minimize his own 'suffering footprint' on the rest of the world...I experience guilt. It is difficult reconcile, perhaps impossible.
But if I am truly being existential, banishing the idea of a 'correct' manner in living and existing, can I say that these people with ambitions in materials and comforts as 'incorrect?' Or is this my own religious coloring to existence? Or is it that I suspect that these individuals, if allowing such deep and unutterable acknowledgments to surface - that at their core being they feel absolutely void and empty - they would find 'things' as lacking any fulfillment of the soul? I must strive to be fair and respect all individuals' unique life purposes, however much they rub against my own. Oh, but it is so difficult sometimes.
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