A Short Philosophy for the Miserable Existence
As humans we are inherently miserable creatures. We can never balance between our goals and desires. Our philosophy of life is built upon small events ,stories and information that we have no control upon. Our deepest desires ,wishes comes from impulses built on when we were kids. But now that we have come across so much is there no solace, no relief from our miserable state? While reading the gist of works by the existential philosophers of the past centuries we came aware about our miserable state. However how we response to such state is where we fall into the state of complete chaos or disarray. However I truly believe there is a easy solution for that.
And that is to create a Bucket List .. This may sound extremely foolish to simplify life by making a list that only a very few people will ever complete. The problem is for a lot of people this list will turn into a bigger disappointment than a solace. But it isn’t.
The first goal of life is to understand why we want something. We are burdened by the things that we see -the movies , the books , the people. Even though we know that we might not have some of those ever again but we cannot help our needs and desires. But the thing is our goal is not to be in those situation perpetually, but to at least live those moments one. We cannot possibly get everything in this absurd and chaotic universe. But getting something at least one is good enough. But here comes the problem some of the things are so out of our reach that we may risk the things that we have. Goals such as having good family life moderate income house and stuff may all be attained. But we get so consumed by them that we forget the other things we wanted to have. These becomes our addiction. We can’t lose them and yet we cannot help our desire to want the other things that we might have. When life gets difficult those things make our lives even more complicated. The things such as drinking, compulsive behaviors, cheating and these things become our new aid. Because we never talked about eating some food, traveling the world, or having great sex or driving in a luxury car. We think our wife ,kids and family be our solace. But in reality they are the one who becomes our shackles. But so is there no way to achieve what we want?
Even though this may seem very unlikely but rather than reading a lot of philosophical books about life‘s meaning , religious solution to stay virtuous or motivational speech to receive everything ,I found the solution by watching just a simple facebook video by a mediocre content creator. The video was about a old indian couple who sell tea. But they managed to visit places that many rich people couldn’t . See the point here is they left the small pleasures. They never cared about having a luxurious house, they never cared about going out every weekend, or they never cared about taking rest every five seconds . By any definition they did not plan a better life. But they somehow still managed a life that anyone would envy only by cultivating the things that they had. The problem is very few are lucky enough to be like them . There is a huge chance we will end up like Carl and Ellie from “UP” movie. The couple who never actually travelled the paradise falls. But even if they don’t is it really bad? That was probably one of the cutest thing in the movie history. The thing is even if we do not travel the world like that Cha-wala couple we might still live a good life as long as we don’t forget why we are living it in the first place.
Now hold on for a moment. If my life goals involve having kids and home and stuff . So how do I do it? Like I said some of them will always be hard to reach. And no matter how we try to forget appropriate financial goal is necessary to attain those things. But one must have plans within their limit. Cha-wala couple saved 500 taka each day to reach their dreams. If they did more it would be hard for them and if less for living a better life then it wouldn’t be easy. Yes it wouldn’t be easy to raise a family and plan a 5 star trip to Switzerland. But amazingly we spend way too much money on things we don’t want and need. We should always focus on the things we want . Never deviate for the society or anything else. Now the society will always be the problem. From your nearest family member to your colleagues and people whom you call friends. Like should you have a grand wedding, or should you have the latest phone or have a good car. It is very necessary to convert the people nearest to you , communicate with them about the bucket list . And if we are lucky enough to get people who are willing to be pleased with those small meaningless task then life is meaningful.
But another thing is then should we stop planning for better future. Well we also need a plan for that as well. It is just that as those things takes way too much toll on ourselves we must be modest with ourselves. Yes things like driving a Ferrari would be tough if you are only earning little money. But you can rent the car, you can ask a friend. Always be pleased about the things that you already have. Cause even with that little opportunity we have the ability to reach almost everything if we just want it. Plan is necessary for everything. But one must always be modest , virtuous about reaching them.
