What should be the pursuits of life?

[The Voice of Time]

The way I see it, basically we have certain inclinations, and then certain environments pulls us toward certain targets. But what should we choose to pursue when virtually anything is possible? If one pursues high-culture (like humanoira and other excellence), there never seems to be an end to amazement, but like a bottomless hole it never gets satisfied either. If one pursues only the basics, life is a constant certainty of uncertainty, one never knows what one misses out on, how it would be like to be in other circumstances and one is constantly under threat from being disrupted in the weak position one has given oneself.

What is worth pursuing? And no, happiness is not an answer, as that's an internal product and not a target in itself (at least not directly).

[tbieter]

The way I see it, basically we have certain inclinations, and then certain environments pulls us toward certain targets. But what should we choose to pursue when virtually anything is possible? If one pursues high-culture (like humanoira and other excellence), there never seems to be an end to amazement, but like a bottomless hole it never gets satisfied either. If one pursues only the basics, life is a constant certainty of uncertainty, one never knows what one misses out on, how it would be like to be in other circumstances and one is constantly under threat from being disrupted in the weak position one has given oneself.

What is worth pursuing? And no, happiness is not an answer, as that's an internal product and not a target in itself (at least not directly).

Belloc, Schall, and I recommend that the "pursuits of life" should be the pursuit of what is.

This morning I finished reading Remembering Belloc by James V. Schall, S. J.

Now I'll draft a review for Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Bello ... ing+belloc

In his books, Schall frequently mentions a thing, fact, or dynamic, and then states, always in italics, that it is "what is" or that it is "real, that it is" In Remembering Belloc, Schall also mentions this concept of being, either on a statement by Belloc or by himself, on nineteen occasions, according to my reading notes.

One example in the conclusion: About Belloc's essay "On Cheeses" Schall writes:

"We suspect, moreover, that Belloc tasted every one of these 253 different kinds of cheese, so eager was he for being, for what is. The splendor of creation includes the existence of many different, wonderful things, each with its own distinctness." p. 163

If you read this book you will understand why the true conservative (like Russell Kirk) and the contemplative Christian both take delight in the infinite wonders of creation.

[tbieter]

Voice asks a philosophical question. What things are worth pursuing in life? What about virtue?

[The Voice of Time]

I didn't mean it like ethics, although "should" in the title kinda says the opposite.

I meant more like, what is "worth" pursuing, what is nice and good to pursue but that isn't letting the immediate experience ruin ones life.

If differentiated experience is something one should pursue for own benefit, then I must make the point that if you never take the time to focus on some one thing, you never can make a real difference with that one thing, you float in and out of a relationship with items and people and never become a substance for people and life at large, unless your actions is part of a collective action.

Virtues are irrespective of self-benefit, so I would disqualify those.

[duszek]

How about the challenge of the moment ?
Or the challenge of the day ?

Example:

I see that too many people influence my mood by being mean. I am at their mercy and don´t like it.
I need to find a way to stop this influence.

For another person it could be ....
shortage of cash ?

[Greylorn Ell]

The way I see it, basically we have certain inclinations, and then certain environments pulls us toward certain targets. But what should we choose to pursue when virtually anything is possible? If one pursues high-culture (like humanoira and other excellence), there never seems to be an end to amazement, but like a bottomless hole it never gets satisfied either. If one pursues only the basics, life is a constant certainty of uncertainty, one never knows what one misses out on, how it would be like to be in other circumstances and one is constantly under threat from being disrupted in the weak position one has given oneself.

What is worth pursuing? And no, happiness is not an answer, as that's an internal product and not a target in itself (at least not directly).

Pursue only consciousness.

Specifically, pursue a level of consciousness sufficient to survive the death of your body.

For how long? Long enough so that you will never lapse into unconsciousness again, except by your choice, and never require another biological incarnation to retrieve consciousness.

Greylorn

[The Voice of Time]

Pursue only consciousness.

Specifically, pursue a level of consciousness sufficient to survive the death of your body.

For how long? Long enough so that you will never lapse into unconsciousness again, except by your choice, and never require another biological incarnation to retrieve consciousness.

Greylorn

Why?

[Greylorn Ell]

Pursue only consciousness.

Specifically, pursue a level of consciousness sufficient to survive the death of your body.

For how long? Long enough so that you will never lapse into unconsciousness again, except by your choice, and never require another biological incarnation to retrieve consciousness.

Greylorn

Why?

Because in the honest and strenuous pursuit of extreme consciousness for its own sake, you will learn unexpected things and meet extremely conscious people.
They are often more interesting than the general lot of quasi/barely/non-conscious people who comprise the glut of human populations.

A famous poet whose name I do not recall wrote, "To shoot an eagle, aim for the moon."

It's a pretty dumb quote, the kind of silly statement you'd expect from a pansy poet who's never shot anything that wasn't sitting on a stump-- if he's shot anything at all. It's hard to see the moon in daytime, and I don't figure on noticing any night-flying eagles. Where I live, they nest at night anyway. If one felt like climbing mountains at night, I suppose one could sneak up on a sleeping bird by moonlight, but to actually shoot the eagle one would need to aim at the eagle itself, not the moon illuminating its hiding place.

Moreover, I disapprove of shooting eagles because they are cool birds. One could obtain a similar challenge by trying to shoot a vulture circling at 1500 feet, but while not so pretty, those birds serve a useful purpose by keeping the land free of rotting meat. Drones, anyone?

Nonetheless, maybe you get the poet's concept, which is what good poetry can deliver.

Finally, in addition to the benefits noted above, extreme consciousness will give you a leg up after you die and discover that Beon Theory, an obscure set of ideas you've never heard of, is pretty much correct. Luckily, you do not need a theory of any sort to pursue consciousness-- just a good mind desirous of becoming even better.

Greylorn

[Bernard]

The way I see it, basically we have certain inclinations, and then certain environments pulls us toward certain targets. But what should we choose to pursue when virtually anything is possible? If one pursues high-culture (like humanoira and other excellence), there never seems to be an end to amazement, but like a bottomless hole it never gets satisfied either. If one pursues only the basics, life is a constant certainty of uncertainty, one never knows what one misses out on, how it would be like to be in other circumstances and one is constantly under threat from being disrupted in the weak position one has given oneself.

What is worth pursuing? And no, happiness is not an answer, as that's an internal product and not a target in itself (at least not directly).

Happiness is not just an internal product - and even if it were, that doesn't exclude it as a target to pursue.

Happiness is the only real pursuit and it is achieved through service! In serving is the pursuit of happiness because you seek it in others and draw it from others, for the benefit of all.

[The Voice of Time]

Happiness is not just an internal product - and even if it were, that doesn't exclude it as a target to pursue.

Why is it not? I think I laid out, in post just above yours, very good arguments for why it is merely an internal product.

Happiness is the only real pursuit and it is achieved through service! In serving is the pursuit of happiness because you seek it in others and draw it from others, for the benefit of all.

Speaking as somebody who has been shangaied by my mother to do work I find completely boring and distasteful and counter-productive, I find this idea of yours completely absurd. Service does not necessarily benefit everyone, and you would have to include service to yourself if you were to define "everyone" as actually meaning "everyone". But even if service was the way, it is way too general a term to justify itself or give anybody a clue as to what exactly they should pursue.

Service, much like happiness, does not have natural components to it, but is instead a linguistic mean by which we convey actual real world content; by inference from context. I can use it to say that you should serve me, but what I really mean by that, is based upon context. It could mean that whatever I say you should do, you must do, it could mean a more narrow definition like in a job with a job culture regulating the service, or it could be used similar to a favour, like "could you do me a service?", or it can be conscription and we demand of you to serve the interest of whoever has control over the military political office. But even then it's ambiguous, because what does that mean that you are gonna do? Are you gonna polish shoes? Shoot at people? Clean toilets? Work with storage and transportation? What exactly does it mean? What are those things you must grab around with your hands and follow through with... what are you really pursuing?

A way to describe the ethical paradox I'm coming to, is that given it is a good thing to serve the nation, and by doing military service you serve the nation, and by doing military service you are ordered to kill civilians, then by inference, it is a good thing to kill civilians. Or it might as well be something less extreme such as wasting an intelligent mind on cleaning toilets for day and night! The same problem occurs... service doesn't seem to contain within itself any definition as to what constitutes the limits of service, and killing civilians and killing enemy soldiers can end up in the same basket because it is seen as good merely because it is service. This reasoning is what legitimise many armies today in committing statistical or system atrocities. Like the Iraq war, although it had some small components of system atrocities, by large the atrocities were statistical ones, and were legitimized as being necessary casualties in war... that is, it doesn't matter if you shell a neighbourhood with artillery, because in order to do your service you have to shell the neighbourhood, or else the war might not progress fast enough, or the lives of your fellow soldiers might be at a greater risk, or whatever. Point is, the paradox is very real, and largely ignored, leading people to suffer from its consequences...

[Bernard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM&feature=kp

Service is not servility.

[danieltalis]

What is worth pursuing?
I think you have answered your own question.. Finding something worth pursuing is worth pursuing, and I'm not being pedantic. Another way of putting it would be.. To find a purpose and noone else is capable of telling you what your purpose is. This is the beauty of individuality, we all have a separate purpose and only we as individuals can discover it. This is what is worth pursuing in life, to find our purpose.