You don’t need to be an existential philosopher, just little perceptive to notice that life is meaningless — we are all headed for the black hole called death.
You don’t need to be an existential philosopher, just little perceptive to notice that life is meaningless — we are all headed for the black hole called death. All human enterprise is escapist, to ward off this despair. But there is a way out of vicious circles we runt into — gather the necessary escape velocity to get on to virtuous spirals
Virtuous Spiral (VS) 1: Buddha’s middle path: Gautam Buddha showed a way out of the human predicament. It is the middle path—no renunciation, just living a virtuous, mindful life. Seek only that what is permanent, Buddha suggested. It is not the inputs from the senses but your internal state that ensures peace and happiness.
VS 2: You create meaning: To give life meaning, find purpose in what you do. It could be living for others.
VS 3: Inverted pyramid: Move up the hierarchy of needs: from roti, kapada and makan, to truth/beauty/perfection, and finally to self-actualisation.
VS 4: Living in the now: Being fully in whatever is at hand, magically creates a window to eternity
Teens: Knocking around: Some exploration happens. Beliefs are questioned. “We get born, breed, and die. What is the point?” is a pet dialogue. The unconscious desire to experience a different reality pushes one to try out intoxicants.
Vicious Circle (VC) 1: Working for what? Work is usually monotonous and impersonal, deadening. Yet, most turn workaholics, at the cost of health and family life. Keeping busy keeps us from asking the big questions.
VC 2: Consumption junkies: Consume, consume; it is good even for the economy. Advertising keeps us perpetually in want.
VC 3: Living vicariously: Movies, spectator sports... we live vicariously. Used to creature comforts, our link with raw nature and the universe is snapped.
VC 4: Portnoy’s Complaint: ‘Not enough sex’, Philip Roth’s hero voiced the universal complaint. The rich and famous have more partners, more sex, super sex!
VC 5: Games people play Many people play the game of life for wealth or fame, others pitch higher at aesthetics, knowledge and salvation, while only the master game (for Self-realisation) is worth playing.
Endgame: Death: All human endeavour-raising families or empires, religions or civilisations-is escapist, a screen against despair and the awesome horror of meaningless life and death. Shudhodana tried to shield his son, Gautam Sidhartha, from the reality of old age, decay and death, but in vain. Meanwhile, we are Sisyphus, endlessly rolling a boulder uphill while it keeps sliding down.
Birth: The game is rigged : Not only the physical appearance, but many of our characteristic traits are handed down by heredity. The reincarnation theory even insists we merely act out a pre-written script. Besides, adults condition children, whose basic personality is formed by the age of seven.
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