A beautiful set he wished
for the sun.
To trickle below
the blessed blue blanket.
To radiate the
Twilight
With a fierce and gentle
Wake.
A grand duel he wished
For the sun.
To permeate the heavens with
Magical knights of
Crimson and
Gold,
Gracefully charging the
Moon's royal court.
With glowing grandeur
And mystical might
She so sweeps across the
Brightly blazing
Battlefield,
Riding a chariot of
Winged radiance.
In a gleam of defiance
Flaming spears
Pierce the
Advancing darkness,
Clashing in a burst of
splendid grace,
Splashing turquoise strife
Across the gaping
Dome of dusk.
With an absent alliance the
Wise waters watched,
Ebbing with apathy
And sighing with a sagacious
Solace...
The once dominating
Colors of the sun's valiant
Army,
Soon dwindled in
Friendly retreat.
The clouds of twilight
Took off the dress of dusk,
Replacing shy lavender with
Fierce and penetrating indigo.
The moon ascended higher,
Reaching her throne amidst
Her faithful soldiers,
Guarding their Queen in
gleaming armor of
Sheer silvery jewels.
A shining victory he wished
for the Moon.
To reign with
Valor
In fullness and
Purity,
In a glowing
Peace,
Basking her
Kingdom in radiant
Harmony.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Therapist
The Therapist
My name is Mel. Short for Melody. I am a therapist, and every morning, as I drive my eight-year-old daughter to school, I muse over the different lives and situations of two of my clients. Dylan is twenty-seven, and is sent to me by his mother, whom he lives with. Ever since he graduated college, with a degree in Spanish, he decided that that was enough, and he doesn’t feel like doing anything else with his life. Then there is Lisa. She is a Peace Corps graduate, and currently teaches English at an inner-city junior high school. Sadly, dissatisfaction permeates her very existence. To both Lisa and Dylan, I offer blatantly different advice. I believe it is more important that each of us gives to the world, that we donate skills and productivity. Dylan refuses to utilize his skills in a productive manner, because it will not offer him personal satisfaction. However, personal satisfaction does not hold the highest value. We must base our life’s meaning on what we contribute to our surroundings, not merely on our own reaction to our existence. This is not to say that happiness holds little value, because personal satisfaction has the potential to lead to greater accomplishments. I am merely claiming that more importance rests in the hands of the impression we leave behind.
It is 8:30 am, and time for Dylan’s appointment. If it were his choosing, he would not meet with me until the afternoon, so he could sleep in and get those unworthy ten hours of sleep. Unfortunately, his mother, Carol, has to drive him, since his license was revoked due to a recent DUI he received. Considering his mother must be at work at nine, his appointment is scheduled for the morning.
As I talk with Dylan, he sits across from me on a floral print couch, gazing with a bored and uninterested stare. I ask him what his plans are for the week.
“You know, the usual. I’ll probably play this new video game that I bought, then maybe go out with my friends, I don’t know.”
I thought to myself, okay, time for the harder questions. “Dylan, if you could live the rest of your life, exactly how it is now, without having to work or contribute anything to your surroundings, would you do so?” His eyes slowly lifted to meet mine, as a pensive glow swept across his face, for a gleaming moment of ephemeral contemplation. He then responded with a confident, solid, “Yes”.
I was somewhat surprised. “But your life consists of playing video games, and spending time with your friends. Do you feel that your life is meaningful?”
Dylan is a well-educated young man, and at times his intelligence really sparkles.
“Right now, I have a college degree in Spanish, I have a very worldly realm of knowledge, and I feel like I have reached the pinnacle of what I hope to achieve.” I was happy to see that his interest in our session escalated. He continued, “I am very happy with my life, and honestly, why should I change if I’m content?” I pondered for a couple moments over this rather insightful question. I replied “Well, I feel that it’s not enough to simply live our life in a way that benefits only our self. Despite the amount of happiness derived from each individual life, the actions of that person are what give that life meaning, not the feelings.” He shrugged apathetically, so I went on. “Dylan, your mother works full-time, pays all the bills, volunteers at the her church, and yet you decided to sit on the sofa and watch T.V, rather than get a job and contribute. You really think your life is meaningful?”
“Yes, my mother chooses to do all of those things you mentioned. She could retire, and then neither of us would have to work. But she loves her job; it makes her happy. She has never pressured me to pursue a career because there is enough family wealth that that would be unnecessary. So, if I’m happy right now, why should I change?”
As I drove home later that day, I thought about Dylan’s session. His life, at this current stage, differs little from that of Albert Camus’ Sisyphus. Every morning, he wakes up, and wastes his day doing activities that will accomplish nothing, and donate not an ounce of meaningfulness to his existence. Yet he is happy with his life, knowing he will become nothing more than who he is now. However, it is not happiness that ensures meaning, but rather it is one’s actions. The resulting feeling is almost entirely unrelated to the degree of meaning in one’s life. The philosopher Richard Taylor claimed that if Sisyphus had a “keen and unappeasable desire to be doing just what he found himself doing, then, although his life would in no way be changed, it would nevertheless have a meaning for him” (Taylor, “The Meaning of Life”, Life, Death, and Meaning, p.26). However, this meaning is less valuable, than that of another person, of equal contentedness, who works in an orphanage in Africa. Each individual may react in an identical fashion to their actions and their life, but it is these actions that determine the amount of meaningfulness within each person’s existence.
However, I am not claiming that we must all sacrifice our happiness, and move to a third world country to teach AIDS awareness. I am stating rather that if it is within our ability to help less fortunate people without ourselves having to suffer or sacrifice an equal amount, then it is our duty to participate in the quelling of other’s misfortunes. In his piece titled “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, Peter Singer claims that if it is within our power to prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable importance, we ought morally to do it. It is our moral duty to help others. Dylan has a degree in Spanish, thus he has the ability and potential to volunteer, or teach, or find a meaningful job in which he contributes to society. Instead, he fulfills only his own needs and desires, and chooses to become someone who donates nearly nothing to the world in which he lives. This is morally selfish. He is wasting his potential to help others, to improve his surroundings, and he chooses to deprive those in need of his skills.
Readers, once again, I beg of you not to gather that I believe everyone needs to be morally perfect, and help others all the time. With Dylan’s background, it is not imperative that he gets a job helping others. It is merely imperative that he gets a job that contributes one way or another to the world, and as of now, that is not the case. For those of us who are able to donate money to tsunami victims, or to stopping the genocide in Darfur, it is important that we do what we can. However, our own lives are of equal importance, and as long as we are contributing to society, and not wasting our potential, we are living, in that particular sense, a moral life. Thus, a moral life is synonymous with a meaningful life.
Some may argue, however, that this reasoning is completely skewed. For example, despite the meaninglessness in Dylan’s life, it is possible to claim that he is not in fact immoral. Dylan is not a murderer, a robber, or a rapist, and he does not in any way invoke harm onto others. However, the action of not invoking harm isn’t what makes us moral, it is the lethargic existence of not invoking good that makes us immoral. We must not measure our morality on the actions from which we refrain, but rather what we are willing to do and contribute to society. Dylan does not donate his skills in any way, and it is this that makes his life meaningless, and immoral.
Driving past the mall, I notice the teens and the pre-teens strutting with an all-knowing glow toward the line to buy tickets for a movie. I silently smirk to myself, thinking how wonderful it was to be young; not having to contemplate on the degree of morality by which we live our lives, or worry about the victims of Katrina, or the child soldiers in Uganda. Only with young age comes an excusable worldly blindness. Once we reach the age that provides us with the capability of knowing and caring about world issues, it is our duty to act in ways where this knowledge and passion are exemplified.
I noticed that The Matrix was playing. This brings me to Nozick’s experience machine, that operates in a way that once one is plugged in, the participant will experience anything he desires. However, these experiences are mere illusions, created by “super duper neuropsychologists” (Nozick, Ethics, p. 228) who lead your brain into believing and feeling like you are truly immersed and active in whatever experience you wish to have. “Would you plug in? What else can matter to us, other than how are lives feel from the inside?” (Nozick, Ethics, p.228).
Life is about so much more than simply how we react to our own existence. One who chooses to live life in an experience machine chooses to completely isolate himself, and contribute nothing to the rest of the world. Although the machine may produce the sensation of accomplishment and contribution, the fact that it is an illusion, and nothing tangible and productive results illustrates the sheer selfishness of the participant. He is the only one benefiting form his existence.
It is Friday afternoon, and I can feel the weekend dangling in front of me like a piñata. Every time I reach for it, it’s pulled high above me; but once it’s hit, it’s definitely worth the wait. Five o’clock approaches, and I hear the bell on the doorknob clang as Lisa hurriedly walks in. I smiled warmly at her to take a seat on the floral sofa.
“How are you this week Lisa?”
“I’m doing alright. My students performed a King Arthur play last weekend, which went really well. Oh, and since it’s the holidays I volunteered at the soup kitchen, and on Christmas eve we will be putting on a feast for the homeless.”
Again, I smiled. “And how is Lisa. I see that you are doing well, as in acting well, but how is your mind? How are you feeling?”
“Well, I feel like I am living in a mascot costume, to be perfectly honest. Everyday I wear a big smile plastered across my face as I try to make everyone happy, but once I am home and strip down to nakedness, I feel lonely and unsatisfied.”
“That is a problem. Lisa, you must recognize that you are living a life with so much meaning and value. You are important to so many people, and you have touched the lives of countless strangers with your volunteer work and generous heart. It is time you realize that who you are deserves happiness.”
Lisa blinked as she stared at the floor. “I just don’t think that what I am doing everyday is what I really want. I know that it is meaningful and valuable, but I want to find a new meaning.”
“Then perhaps you ought to find a new career path.” I said this, knowing it would terrify her to pieces, because starting new is so frightening. I told her the words of a philosopher I once read by the name of David Schmidtz: “What you really want is a purpose you can embrace as your own, but also one that will be recognizable as a real purpose independently of the fact that you embraced it as such” (David Schmidtz, “The Meaning of Life”, Life Death and Meaning, p. 94). What truly gives life meaning must come from your actions, but in order to reach ultimate satisfaction, your reaction must as well be content.
“If you do not wish to start anew, I suggest finding hobbies that give you enjoyment. While it is important that you continue living in such a giving way, it is now time that you find internal satisfaction. You are already leading an existence full of generosity as you constantly contribute to the lives of those around you, but now you must fulfill your own needs, since you have already fulfilled the needs of others.”
Life’s meaning is derived from what we contribute to the world and the impression we leave on those we encountered. Memories are the sole possessors of possible immortality, and to create meaning in our life, we must use the assistance of them by leaving an impact that will be remembered by those we meet, and passed on to those we miss. One cannot leave this impression through isolation of existence, and despite the contentedness one may discover within oneself, it is actions and the tangible imprint left behind that truly give life meaning. Internal satisfaction is valuable as well, and it is the combination of both that brings the ultimate meaningfulness.
My name is Mel. Short for Melody. I am a therapist, and every morning, as I drive my eight-year-old daughter to school, I muse over the different lives and situations of two of my clients. Dylan is twenty-seven, and is sent to me by his mother, whom he lives with. Ever since he graduated college, with a degree in Spanish, he decided that that was enough, and he doesn’t feel like doing anything else with his life. Then there is Lisa. She is a Peace Corps graduate, and currently teaches English at an inner-city junior high school. Sadly, dissatisfaction permeates her very existence. To both Lisa and Dylan, I offer blatantly different advice. I believe it is more important that each of us gives to the world, that we donate skills and productivity. Dylan refuses to utilize his skills in a productive manner, because it will not offer him personal satisfaction. However, personal satisfaction does not hold the highest value. We must base our life’s meaning on what we contribute to our surroundings, not merely on our own reaction to our existence. This is not to say that happiness holds little value, because personal satisfaction has the potential to lead to greater accomplishments. I am merely claiming that more importance rests in the hands of the impression we leave behind.
It is 8:30 am, and time for Dylan’s appointment. If it were his choosing, he would not meet with me until the afternoon, so he could sleep in and get those unworthy ten hours of sleep. Unfortunately, his mother, Carol, has to drive him, since his license was revoked due to a recent DUI he received. Considering his mother must be at work at nine, his appointment is scheduled for the morning.
As I talk with Dylan, he sits across from me on a floral print couch, gazing with a bored and uninterested stare. I ask him what his plans are for the week.
“You know, the usual. I’ll probably play this new video game that I bought, then maybe go out with my friends, I don’t know.”
I thought to myself, okay, time for the harder questions. “Dylan, if you could live the rest of your life, exactly how it is now, without having to work or contribute anything to your surroundings, would you do so?” His eyes slowly lifted to meet mine, as a pensive glow swept across his face, for a gleaming moment of ephemeral contemplation. He then responded with a confident, solid, “Yes”.
I was somewhat surprised. “But your life consists of playing video games, and spending time with your friends. Do you feel that your life is meaningful?”
Dylan is a well-educated young man, and at times his intelligence really sparkles.
“Right now, I have a college degree in Spanish, I have a very worldly realm of knowledge, and I feel like I have reached the pinnacle of what I hope to achieve.” I was happy to see that his interest in our session escalated. He continued, “I am very happy with my life, and honestly, why should I change if I’m content?” I pondered for a couple moments over this rather insightful question. I replied “Well, I feel that it’s not enough to simply live our life in a way that benefits only our self. Despite the amount of happiness derived from each individual life, the actions of that person are what give that life meaning, not the feelings.” He shrugged apathetically, so I went on. “Dylan, your mother works full-time, pays all the bills, volunteers at the her church, and yet you decided to sit on the sofa and watch T.V, rather than get a job and contribute. You really think your life is meaningful?”
“Yes, my mother chooses to do all of those things you mentioned. She could retire, and then neither of us would have to work. But she loves her job; it makes her happy. She has never pressured me to pursue a career because there is enough family wealth that that would be unnecessary. So, if I’m happy right now, why should I change?”
As I drove home later that day, I thought about Dylan’s session. His life, at this current stage, differs little from that of Albert Camus’ Sisyphus. Every morning, he wakes up, and wastes his day doing activities that will accomplish nothing, and donate not an ounce of meaningfulness to his existence. Yet he is happy with his life, knowing he will become nothing more than who he is now. However, it is not happiness that ensures meaning, but rather it is one’s actions. The resulting feeling is almost entirely unrelated to the degree of meaning in one’s life. The philosopher Richard Taylor claimed that if Sisyphus had a “keen and unappeasable desire to be doing just what he found himself doing, then, although his life would in no way be changed, it would nevertheless have a meaning for him” (Taylor, “The Meaning of Life”, Life, Death, and Meaning, p.26). However, this meaning is less valuable, than that of another person, of equal contentedness, who works in an orphanage in Africa. Each individual may react in an identical fashion to their actions and their life, but it is these actions that determine the amount of meaningfulness within each person’s existence.
However, I am not claiming that we must all sacrifice our happiness, and move to a third world country to teach AIDS awareness. I am stating rather that if it is within our ability to help less fortunate people without ourselves having to suffer or sacrifice an equal amount, then it is our duty to participate in the quelling of other’s misfortunes. In his piece titled “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, Peter Singer claims that if it is within our power to prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable importance, we ought morally to do it. It is our moral duty to help others. Dylan has a degree in Spanish, thus he has the ability and potential to volunteer, or teach, or find a meaningful job in which he contributes to society. Instead, he fulfills only his own needs and desires, and chooses to become someone who donates nearly nothing to the world in which he lives. This is morally selfish. He is wasting his potential to help others, to improve his surroundings, and he chooses to deprive those in need of his skills.
Readers, once again, I beg of you not to gather that I believe everyone needs to be morally perfect, and help others all the time. With Dylan’s background, it is not imperative that he gets a job helping others. It is merely imperative that he gets a job that contributes one way or another to the world, and as of now, that is not the case. For those of us who are able to donate money to tsunami victims, or to stopping the genocide in Darfur, it is important that we do what we can. However, our own lives are of equal importance, and as long as we are contributing to society, and not wasting our potential, we are living, in that particular sense, a moral life. Thus, a moral life is synonymous with a meaningful life.
Some may argue, however, that this reasoning is completely skewed. For example, despite the meaninglessness in Dylan’s life, it is possible to claim that he is not in fact immoral. Dylan is not a murderer, a robber, or a rapist, and he does not in any way invoke harm onto others. However, the action of not invoking harm isn’t what makes us moral, it is the lethargic existence of not invoking good that makes us immoral. We must not measure our morality on the actions from which we refrain, but rather what we are willing to do and contribute to society. Dylan does not donate his skills in any way, and it is this that makes his life meaningless, and immoral.
Driving past the mall, I notice the teens and the pre-teens strutting with an all-knowing glow toward the line to buy tickets for a movie. I silently smirk to myself, thinking how wonderful it was to be young; not having to contemplate on the degree of morality by which we live our lives, or worry about the victims of Katrina, or the child soldiers in Uganda. Only with young age comes an excusable worldly blindness. Once we reach the age that provides us with the capability of knowing and caring about world issues, it is our duty to act in ways where this knowledge and passion are exemplified.
I noticed that The Matrix was playing. This brings me to Nozick’s experience machine, that operates in a way that once one is plugged in, the participant will experience anything he desires. However, these experiences are mere illusions, created by “super duper neuropsychologists” (Nozick, Ethics, p. 228) who lead your brain into believing and feeling like you are truly immersed and active in whatever experience you wish to have. “Would you plug in? What else can matter to us, other than how are lives feel from the inside?” (Nozick, Ethics, p.228).
Life is about so much more than simply how we react to our own existence. One who chooses to live life in an experience machine chooses to completely isolate himself, and contribute nothing to the rest of the world. Although the machine may produce the sensation of accomplishment and contribution, the fact that it is an illusion, and nothing tangible and productive results illustrates the sheer selfishness of the participant. He is the only one benefiting form his existence.
It is Friday afternoon, and I can feel the weekend dangling in front of me like a piñata. Every time I reach for it, it’s pulled high above me; but once it’s hit, it’s definitely worth the wait. Five o’clock approaches, and I hear the bell on the doorknob clang as Lisa hurriedly walks in. I smiled warmly at her to take a seat on the floral sofa.
“How are you this week Lisa?”
“I’m doing alright. My students performed a King Arthur play last weekend, which went really well. Oh, and since it’s the holidays I volunteered at the soup kitchen, and on Christmas eve we will be putting on a feast for the homeless.”
Again, I smiled. “And how is Lisa. I see that you are doing well, as in acting well, but how is your mind? How are you feeling?”
“Well, I feel like I am living in a mascot costume, to be perfectly honest. Everyday I wear a big smile plastered across my face as I try to make everyone happy, but once I am home and strip down to nakedness, I feel lonely and unsatisfied.”
“That is a problem. Lisa, you must recognize that you are living a life with so much meaning and value. You are important to so many people, and you have touched the lives of countless strangers with your volunteer work and generous heart. It is time you realize that who you are deserves happiness.”
Lisa blinked as she stared at the floor. “I just don’t think that what I am doing everyday is what I really want. I know that it is meaningful and valuable, but I want to find a new meaning.”
“Then perhaps you ought to find a new career path.” I said this, knowing it would terrify her to pieces, because starting new is so frightening. I told her the words of a philosopher I once read by the name of David Schmidtz: “What you really want is a purpose you can embrace as your own, but also one that will be recognizable as a real purpose independently of the fact that you embraced it as such” (David Schmidtz, “The Meaning of Life”, Life Death and Meaning, p. 94). What truly gives life meaning must come from your actions, but in order to reach ultimate satisfaction, your reaction must as well be content.
“If you do not wish to start anew, I suggest finding hobbies that give you enjoyment. While it is important that you continue living in such a giving way, it is now time that you find internal satisfaction. You are already leading an existence full of generosity as you constantly contribute to the lives of those around you, but now you must fulfill your own needs, since you have already fulfilled the needs of others.”
Life’s meaning is derived from what we contribute to the world and the impression we leave on those we encountered. Memories are the sole possessors of possible immortality, and to create meaning in our life, we must use the assistance of them by leaving an impact that will be remembered by those we meet, and passed on to those we miss. One cannot leave this impression through isolation of existence, and despite the contentedness one may discover within oneself, it is actions and the tangible imprint left behind that truly give life meaning. Internal satisfaction is valuable as well, and it is the combination of both that brings the ultimate meaningfulness.
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