I imagine Gill observing how we as a people spend so much time buzzing around in our cars, hurrying from one important engagement to another... as if every moment, ever decision mattered... as if life is to be taken seriously in the strictest sense of the idea...
...and I imagine Gill then wondering, "All of us seem to be living life so seriously... what evidence led us to conclude that life is such a serious endeavor?
I would say that life is a serious endeavor to us personally because one of the main ways we experience life is through emotions, and all (most?) of us want to feel happy. Therefore, the seriousness of buzzing about to be successful or happy or whatever is because people would rather not feel crummy.
If you took this cumulatively, I guess you could say it means all life is then serious. An interesting reverse side, though, is that people often attain happiness through letting go of their emotions and acknowledging the un-seriousness of life.
I really like how you're tumbling this question around...
Personally, the more serious 'buzzing' around I do, the more purpose-driven my life feels, but I find that my happiness or peace of mind can be inversely proportional: the more buzzing I do, the more crummy I often feel... (BTW, what do we mean by 'happiness'?)
But then again, that crumminess/fatigue/disillusionment doesn't compare to the depth of despair that I consistently feel when I am bored, doing nothing, and/or feel as though I have no significant purpose in life... ...sounds like I'm back where I started too :)
Must a purpose driven life be a 'life taken seriously' and vice a versa?
I guess a lot of what I'm thinking depends on what my impression of 'serious' is. When you say that, I think someone who is very success-driven, or someone who's obsessed with improving their own life. But the more I think about it, someone like that might not be taking life seriosly, since they only focus on their own, instead of all life.
On the flip side, their are people who take little for themselves, but are content with what they have and do a lot of humanitarian work. They're not as obsessed with themselves, but maybe they're the ones taking life seriously, because they think life matters enough that everyone should have a good life.
I'm conflicted about this, because it all depends on the meanings of words. But why would people "throw away" their whole lives improving other's lives if life wasn't serious?
I just ran across this topic of life being (or not being) serious in a goofy book called Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Here's an excerpt:
They rode in silence for a while, and then the driver made another good point. He said he knew that his truck was turning the atmosphere into poison gas, and that the planet was being turned into pavement so his truck could go anywhere. “So I’m committing suicide,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Trout.
“My brother is even worse,” the driver went on. “He works in a factory that makes chemicals for killing plants and trees in Viet Nam.” Viet Nam was a country where America was trying to make people stop being communists by dropping things on them from airplanes. The chemicals he mentioned were intended to kill all the foliage, so it would be harder for communists to hide from airplanes.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Trout.
“In the long run, he’s committing suicide,” said the driver. “Seems like the only kind of job an American can get these days is committing suicide in some way.”
“Good point,” said Trout.
“I can’t tell if you’re serious or not,” said the driver.
“I won’t know myself until I find out whether life is serious or not,” said Trout. “It’s dangerous, I know, and it can hurt a lot. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s serious, too.”
8 comments:
the question is far too open-ended.
I request more to go on to begin a conversation
Hmmm... far too open-ended?
Sounds like you're taking this conversational seed quite seriously... Gill might ask, "Is there any shred of evidence that suggests we should do so?"
(Not sure if I could make the question less open-ended, and if I knew a way, I'd still be asking if I should hem it in...
Why would someone, convinced that life isn't serios...be looking for evidence?
What use is evidence in this hilarious world?
I imagine Gill observing how we as a people spend so much time buzzing around in our cars, hurrying from one important engagement to another... as if every moment, ever decision mattered... as if life is to be taken seriously in the strictest sense of the idea...
...and I imagine Gill then wondering, "All of us seem to be living life so seriously... what evidence led us to conclude that life is such a serious endeavor?
Ooh, this is interesting.
I would say that life is a serious endeavor to us personally because one of the main ways we experience life is through emotions, and all (most?) of us want to feel happy. Therefore, the seriousness of buzzing about to be successful or happy or whatever is because people would rather not feel crummy.
If you took this cumulatively, I guess you could say it means all life is then serious. An interesting reverse side, though, is that people often attain happiness through letting go of their emotions and acknowledging the un-seriousness of life.
So I guess I'm back where I started...?
chq-
I really like how you're tumbling this question around...
Personally, the more serious 'buzzing' around I do, the more purpose-driven my life feels, but I find that my happiness or peace of mind can be inversely proportional: the more buzzing I do, the more crummy I often feel... (BTW, what do we mean by 'happiness'?)
But then again, that crumminess/fatigue/disillusionment doesn't compare to the depth of despair that I consistently feel when I am bored, doing nothing, and/or feel as though I have no significant purpose in life... ...sounds like I'm back where I started too :)
Must a purpose driven life be a 'life taken seriously' and vice a versa?
I guess a lot of what I'm thinking depends on what my impression of 'serious' is. When you say that, I think someone who is very success-driven, or someone who's obsessed with improving their own life. But the more I think about it, someone like that might not be taking life seriosly, since they only focus on their own, instead of all life.
On the flip side, their are people who take little for themselves, but are content with what they have and do a lot of humanitarian work. They're not as obsessed with themselves, but maybe they're the ones taking life seriously, because they think life matters enough that everyone should have a good life.
I'm conflicted about this, because it all depends on the meanings of words. But why would people "throw away" their whole lives improving other's lives if life wasn't serious?
I just ran across this topic of life being (or not being) serious in a goofy book called Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Here's an excerpt:
They rode in silence for a while, and then the driver made another good point. He said he knew that his truck was turning the atmosphere into poison gas, and that the planet was being turned into pavement so his truck could go anywhere. “So I’m committing suicide,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Trout.
“My brother is even worse,” the driver went on. “He works in a factory that makes chemicals for killing plants and trees in Viet Nam.” Viet Nam was a country where America was trying to make people stop being communists by dropping things on them from airplanes. The chemicals he mentioned were intended to kill all the foliage, so it would be harder for communists to hide from airplanes.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Trout.
“In the long run, he’s committing suicide,” said the driver. “Seems like the only kind of job an American can get these days is committing suicide in some way.”
“Good point,” said Trout.
“I can’t tell if you’re serious or not,” said the driver.
“I won’t know myself until I find out whether life is serious or not,” said Trout. “It’s dangerous, I know, and it can hurt a lot. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s serious, too.”
(from pg85-86 in my edition).
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