If you could live an ideal life, however you may define it, but upon your death the world would turn off like a TV set, would you choose the ideal life?
Why or why not? This isn't as simple as it seems...
I think this is an important question to answer for yourself in trying to determine how you'd like to lead your life.
About the Author
- mwp
- Burlington, Vermont
- I'm an avid outdoorsman, former graduate student, current web entrepreneur, aspiring writer, and sometime traveler. Over the years I've worked 15 different jobs and traveled to 39 states and 12 countries (discounting layovers).
It is too easy to succumb to being an observer of all of this amazing input in life. It is too easy to just watch the show of life, to just take it all in. I could stand in a crowd at the right concert and be so supremely content to just be in the crowd, to feel a part of that crowd, to move with the music and lose yourself in things so completely. But somebody has to play the music. And man. Imagine what it must be like to have that energy come out of you that fills a huge concert hall with people who would say something like, "Man, listen to that album, it's AMAZING!" Ah, but to be the creator of AMAZING! That is the goal.
Dancing With Shiva by Bill De Broglie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
2 comments:
Is the fact that the world :turns off like a TV: supposed to be a drawback?
Well, that's the real question I guess. Do you see it as a drawback? If you were a hardcore solipsist then you wouldn't see it as a drawback and would obviously choose the ideal life. On the other hand, if you do see it as a drawback it becomes a very complicated question that can say a lot about how one should live life.
For example, assuming the world turning "off like a TV set" IS a drawback in your mind, then you must believe in the existence of a universe outside of your mind (and its continued existence after your death). So assuming the universe would expire upon your death, do you choose the ideal life - thus dooming everything--your family, your friends, your dog, cockroaches, algae, the earth, the sun, the milky way, etc--to obliteration? Or do you sacrifice your ideal life for the continued existence of all of these things after you've died?
Hopefully I've clarified the question (and illustrated its complication). To me, the question depends first on your personal world view, but also your views on the afterlife (for example, whether or not there is an afterlife), your concept of self, duty, and most importantly, the value you place in the existence of all of THIS.
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