What is Life?
How serious should we take our Life?
What do we want in our Life?
These are a few questions that I have pondered over a lot over the last few months. I have recalled situations and moments from my past, enacted and re-enacted them with just myself being the audience. I have honestly tried to look at all the various aspects and attempted to understand the core value of the situation. Finally I could not help myself from concluding that ALL of us are SELFISH and we are bloody good at it.
I would not be stating too much if I said that all we want from our life is HAPPINESS. We can all use different words for it, let it be satisfaction, security, responsibility etc but in the end the sole aim is happiness. A quest for happiness is not bad. However, we do tend to take whatever means possible to obtain it and in the process showcase our brutally selfish selves to the world around us.
Again, let me make it clear, I'm not referring to the pleasures we obtain at the expense of others. Because that is terrible. I am trying to bring to the fore the hedonistic bastards we all are. Yes, we all are such.
We all love pain.
Haven't each and every one of us parted with something very precious to ourselves because it made someone smile? Haven't we at times forgone our best interests to put up with some crap our friend asked to give him company in? Haven't we stood up for others to bear the brunt of a calamity all by ourselves? Haven't we all given up something close because we felt it was the right thing to do even if it would hurt forever? Haven't we allowed ourselves to be made fun of because it would cheer up our circle of friends? Hasn't a soldier fighting for his country run ahead to face the shower of bullets so that his comrades can accomplish a mission?
What connects them all?
PAIN and HAPPINESS.
The protagonist always feels the pain. He can avoid it but he won't because he is selfish. The pain is only preliminary but what that opens for him is a tiny window of happiness; (yes, I have sacrificed/helped/donated) which may be fleeting but it is quality happiness. It goes a long way to balance or even tilt the books in the favour of happiness over pain.
That feeling of sacrifice brings with it such immense happiness that one would agree to endure excruciating levels of pain in exchange. The feeling of being a HERO or a SAVIOUR or a SACRIFICIAL LAMB is so badly aspired by each one of us.
We deceive the entire world around us which talks of our greatness. Little do they realize what is the sole objective of the grinning devil.
Many of us will want to refute it but as far as I am concerned I will only say that. " I am in great pain and am loving every moment of it."
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I like the idea; the only point I differ at is that pain is not a necessity to happiness.
ReplyDeleteIt is the happiness that justifies the pain, so we gladly bear with it. If the soldier was any wiser, he would leave people to die for themselves and seek happiness in other, less risky employments. It is the sense of patriotism (which gives happiness again) that makes him run foolhardily into bullets.
Pain definitely is not a necessity for happiness but I am trying to impress upon the fact that undertaking voluntary pain has only and only happiness the ultimate motive. Experiencing such pain deliberately gives a feeling as if one is washing away his sins and justifying himself and in thus in the process attaining happiness.
ReplyDeleteyou have made a good point but i would differ from this view slightly.
ReplyDeleteI think defining happiness or to be precise defining that would make us happy is not always possible. At most of the times we dont even know whether our acts would make us happy.
In many cases like the ones stated in the post, we behave the way others do in similar situation regardless of the consequences, sometimes we do things because we accept them to be the way they are whether that makes us happy or not... now yes i agree that whenever we see a slight chance of happiness or salvation in an act.. we do it regardless of the amount of pain we may have to endure... but the point is how often are we able to see that chance?
Sutta, you may argue about that chance and how someone does something just because he has to do it or that is the way others would act in a similar situation, but every individual has his own window of choice for every action that he takes. It may be a small one and not even let you analyze all aspects of the consequences of your actions but what drives him on is that little act of salvation as you put it. Every one always has the other option.
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