All that matters?
How do we decide what matters? Towards the end of our lives we probably don't have the mental functionality to concentrate on anything but the basics, but that alone doesn't make the basics worth more? Is what matters and what we're willing to forgo have everything to do with our own mental state and less to do with the world we are trying to describe?
Comments (37)
Generally I don't decide. I act.
Quoting TiredThinker
I don't divide the world into deliberations about what matters. I act.
Now if in acting I get 'knocked on my ass', I might learn and reflect or try something new. My actions are based on whatever's already there inside me, a consequence of socialization, enculturation, personality, reading, conversations, that kind of thing. I don't sort it out or care to sort it out, I make judgements and go with them.
It's a matter of values and the prioritizing of those values. What do you care about? What do you like or love about life?
I think actions speak much louder than words (or thoughts...or professed beliefs), so looking at how we spend our time is, in my view, important. Not the time that we experience, per se, but the time we've standardized through the agreed upon duration of a "second" and a "day" -- so we can be a little more objective about it. How many non-sleeping hours are we spending on x, y, and z? That will tell you a lot about where your priorities are -- i.e., what "really matters" to you.
So we better try our best to align our time with our values. If we spend excess amount of time (A) alone, drifting, watching TV (or screens), overeating, being sedentary, or working a job we hate rather than (B) spending time with family and friends, or generally being sociable, or working in the community, or spending time getting healthier by being active and eating well, or doing creative, productive work voluntarily -- than we're likely in real trouble, because in this case B > A in terms of what matters, but A > B in terms of what we actually do.
To reverse a lot of this requires real reflection, an awareness that there's a problem, a desire to want to change, and the wherewithal to formulate a plan and stick with it. It means overcoming unhealthy habits of mind and body that we've developed, and which says something about our society as well.
Not an easy task. But an important question.
To do so I think one must [s]suffer, lose, fail[/s] ... reflectively.
[quote=Albert Camus] ... whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.[/quote]
NB: Such as cultivating habits of courage ... of learning ... of ecstasy ...
Can I live without this?
Is this empty (going nowhere) or full of potential?
Note: Edit your OP as it is incoherent in places.
I'm incoherent in places.
I think such an approach to life is generally an unbalanced one. One should always spend time reflecting and evaluating their own judgment, sharpening the moral self if you will. I wouldn't practically heavily rely on one of my virtues such an intuit as attractive as it may seem. It's something I need more of personally, though.
When you cross a swamp, where you decide to put your feet depends on how firm the ground looks. Be prepared to change your footing if the ground gives way under your weight. It's also not a bad idea to step where others have already stepped, and to keep an eye on how those around you are getting on.
Each individual is unique, human diversity is great; so there are no universal rules governing what matters. The way and its struggle is different for each person, but the formula closest to being able to claim universality I can think of would be Nietzsche's "become who you are".
What does an unbalanced life mean and how would you demonstrate that this is the case?
Quoting Abdul
What does it mean to reflect? When is it done and how is it done?
What does sharpening the moral self mean?
Quoting Abdul
I don't understand this sentence? Are you saying that you do not trust your own judgements?
Never used a pubic toilet?
Feeling alive is pleasant, but does it matter? Naturalistic fallacy, yet again.
General gripe: , , , and you all posit suggestions that fall at this first hurdle. What we wish to do is not always what we ought to do. Nor can one derive what we ought do from what we in fact do. Basic stuff.
I was referring to shitting and specifically outhouses, not public toilets. I hate using them and avoid it as much as possible, but I have never needed instructions.
If you don't feel alive then your life is wasted, so of course it matters. It has nothing to do with naturalism.
There is not "what we ought to do", other than try to feel alive and to appreciate the life in others. Everything follows without the need for instructions. Instructions are for the machine men.
I'm sure it's not you who shits on the seat or bleeds in the sink, but it is apparent that instructions for using public toilets in a way that does not put others at risk might be of use.
Quoting Janus
Why? We might make your unhappy life not a waste by harvesting your organs...
You haven't presented, and can't, present an argument because you can't move from what is the fact to what ought to be the fact.
Otherwise, it's just organ harvesting or advertising slogans.
If no one feels alive then life is wasted. and harvested organs won't help, so you're only kicking the can down the road.
I don't need to present an argument; it is self-evident that the life lived with a vivid intensity of feeling is better than the unlived life; a life that manifests a paucity of feeling; a life of just organ harvesting and advertising slogans. Is the latter the life you want for yourself and others?
Ok, so long as you are happy...
:roll:
Ankles are so badly designed. Proof that there is no god, or that he's a right arsehole.Or that things started to go bad when we came down from the trees. Poor choice on our ancestor's part.
Right, so that we can do what makes us feel more alive.
Quoting Banno
Right, down from the trees, or up on two legs. In my case I came down about 2.5 metres on a ladder that slipped out from its position leaning against a wall; I came down vertically and landed with my whole weight on the right foot, it being still on the rung. Never had a problem with my ankles previously.
You never have such a clear and distinct apprehension of the fact of being alive as when you are bored shitless. Which entirely undermines your point.
I was up on the roof yesterday, trying to locate a leak. I hate ladders. Treacherous, unreliable contrivance of the devil. Killed a friend, one did, moving under him so as to cast him down.
Think I'll go and paint turps and linseed oil the handles on my garden tools.
No, since I was talking about feeling alive, not noticing the fact that you are alive. I hardly ever feel bored, and when I do it certainly does not consist in feeling alive; quite the opposite. But maybe that's just me; you know, human diversity...
I consider myself lucky to have come down vertically and not sideways onto the drop saw that might have led to my demise.
I also use (gum) turpentine and linseed oil on my wooden tool handles. Works well on steel too, once any rust has been removed.
Well, there's your problem, then. Allow tedium soak in, to permeate your being; meditate on the fact that you might do anything, but instead do nothing; procure an aspidistra and put it in your front window, watch it by degrees become covered in dust.
Have you noticed that gum turps leaves a better colour on the handles?
I find it hard to imagine how it would be possible to do nothing. It could be said that I tried for many years via meditation to achieve the state of doing nothing, but I could never get there. Your Aspidistra contemplation sounds like it would be like watching the grass grow, very focused on very little for a very long time. But, it all depends on the state of consciousness. It reminds me of Blake:
[i]To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour[/i]
So the conclusion would be that boredom is a state of mind, not a state of doing (or lack of it).
Quoting Banno
Yes, agree; better than mineral turps. Better for painting pictures too. When I was cabinet-making I used to heat gum turps and linseed oil (very carefully!) and melt beeswax into it, to make an excellent furniture polish. Just the gum turps and linseed oil is good for that too, but not quite as lustrous as with the added beeswax.
I think these things matter, so I guess we're not going off-topic.
1. Love
2. Health
3. Happiness
(in no particular order)
Sy?d, a good measure of what matters to a person is how much suffering said person is willing to endure/inflict to acquire something. People have died/killed for God, for country, for love, etc. These then havta matter in some way or another, oui mes amies?
Good advice, and nice new avatar
One's truth does not in fact make for general truth. Because you like to reflect upon others your truth's so much through the use of analogy here's one for you.
The OP did not ask does anything matter? Also, the last question is incoherent and the person in question has not bothered to correct the grammatical errors so I am still not clear what they were asking there.
Quoting Banno
Yes. I never said otherwise.