Meaning of Life
Last Wednesday and Thursday I met up with the Philosophers again and the talk was mostly of freedom ("Should drugs be legalised" on Wednesday and John Stuart Mill's On Liberty on Thursday). But Friday night I was with my friends Ian and Gail and talk turned to the meaning of life. We were discussing whether it is better to have a plan or not.
I have always been more comfortable with very firm plans, clear goals, and a solid path mapped out to get to it. That's why I stayed in school for so long -- exams, classes, degrees, and even tenure-track careers are like riding on a train, you just sign on and go, the route has all been mapped out for you by someone else. And any deviation from the tracks is a waste of time and effort. (For the past few years though I have been experiencing the down side of this way of living, when your plan gets destroyed through no fault of your own, you have no plan, no one has given you anything to do with your future, you can't tell a waste of time from not, and you feel your life is absurd and meaningless.)
Ian understood why people need goals, but thought it was important when a goal gets taken away to take some time to recover your identity.
Gail disagreed with me more strongly. She thinks it's best to live life by making the most of opportunities as they come along. The up side of this is that you are less often disappointed, more often discover unexpected joys, and can learn and do amazing new things in time.
(I can't remember all of Ian's position, but I remember that his was between Gail's and mine. When I talk to him next I can ask him for more details and come back and fill this in further.)
Then Saturday I had a Philorum Dialectic with John B. We walked around Darling Harbour because he had to catch a boat at about 4. It was an unexpectedly nice day after a week of solid rain. The meaning of life topic came up again, and I outlined the three views held by myself, Ian and Gail. John B came down on the other side of Gail, even more improvisational and opportunistic. He said, "If you are going to be an artist, you need to be able to play. You need to be able to put a stroke on the canvas, and then stand back and look at it, and then put another stroke." If you want to be an artist, right? I said something to defend the goal-oriented life, not arguing in favor of it, mind, just saying that if one wanted to argue for it, they might want to emphasize focus and not wasting time. "But the purpose of life is to play!" John B declared.
We were on a footbridge over the water, and the sun was shining so bright that I had taken my coat off and was holding my hand up to shield my eyes. And his statement was just like that bright sunlight. It made me smile, more of a broad grin. The purpose of life is to play. I hadn't been even considering that point of view, I'm always so tortured about what I am going to achieve and if I'm working hard enough toward it and if I'm going to be able to do enough of value before I die to justify myself. The purpose of life is to play! It might be not to achieve worthy things but to collect experiences for myself.
The weather has again been rainy and overcast since then, but not inside of me.
postscript: The result of spending my Sunday pursuing this new philosophy was that I went on a great walk around Redfern and went to some really groovy antique shops, but Monday morning none of my errands were done (groceries, laundry, bill paying, mail, cleaning), and so I've been staying up late and was late to work today getting them all done. So, the philosopher who lives her life in pursuit of play still has to spend some frontloaded time doing her errands. How do you manage it, John B?
I have always been more comfortable with very firm plans, clear goals, and a solid path mapped out to get to it. That's why I stayed in school for so long -- exams, classes, degrees, and even tenure-track careers are like riding on a train, you just sign on and go, the route has all been mapped out for you by someone else. And any deviation from the tracks is a waste of time and effort. (For the past few years though I have been experiencing the down side of this way of living, when your plan gets destroyed through no fault of your own, you have no plan, no one has given you anything to do with your future, you can't tell a waste of time from not, and you feel your life is absurd and meaningless.)
Ian understood why people need goals, but thought it was important when a goal gets taken away to take some time to recover your identity.
Gail disagreed with me more strongly. She thinks it's best to live life by making the most of opportunities as they come along. The up side of this is that you are less often disappointed, more often discover unexpected joys, and can learn and do amazing new things in time.
(I can't remember all of Ian's position, but I remember that his was between Gail's and mine. When I talk to him next I can ask him for more details and come back and fill this in further.)
Then Saturday I had a Philorum Dialectic with John B. We walked around Darling Harbour because he had to catch a boat at about 4. It was an unexpectedly nice day after a week of solid rain. The meaning of life topic came up again, and I outlined the three views held by myself, Ian and Gail. John B came down on the other side of Gail, even more improvisational and opportunistic. He said, "If you are going to be an artist, you need to be able to play. You need to be able to put a stroke on the canvas, and then stand back and look at it, and then put another stroke." If you want to be an artist, right? I said something to defend the goal-oriented life, not arguing in favor of it, mind, just saying that if one wanted to argue for it, they might want to emphasize focus and not wasting time. "But the purpose of life is to play!" John B declared.
We were on a footbridge over the water, and the sun was shining so bright that I had taken my coat off and was holding my hand up to shield my eyes. And his statement was just like that bright sunlight. It made me smile, more of a broad grin. The purpose of life is to play. I hadn't been even considering that point of view, I'm always so tortured about what I am going to achieve and if I'm working hard enough toward it and if I'm going to be able to do enough of value before I die to justify myself. The purpose of life is to play! It might be not to achieve worthy things but to collect experiences for myself.
The weather has again been rainy and overcast since then, but not inside of me.
postscript: The result of spending my Sunday pursuing this new philosophy was that I went on a great walk around Redfern and went to some really groovy antique shops, but Monday morning none of my errands were done (groceries, laundry, bill paying, mail, cleaning), and so I've been staying up late and was late to work today getting them all done. So, the philosopher who lives her life in pursuit of play still has to spend some frontloaded time doing her errands. How do you manage it, John B?
posted by Ellen at 10:56 pm
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