I am starting to believe more and more that there are two teirs of humanity, which I call “Alive” and “Dead”.
Dead: A human that is alive, but exists only to eat/sleep and “do”. With no reason behind their actions, no consideration, no wish to understand or question actions, no longing for internal understanding and honesty. People who get up, go to work, shape their reality through the TV/newspaper, go to bed, repeat. People who accept a generic “happiness”, without consideration of what that word even means.
Alive: People that live, but do what the dead people don’t. People who have depth, substance, who are really alive.
I think any person has a moments in each of these tiers, and at different times in life will be in diferent mindsets. I also think which tier you are in is (more or less) within the individuals control.
not one of your better posts, very general and unfounded
Yeah, i’ll work on it.
Definately one of your better posts, thought-provoking, good work
I agree that there are people who spend too much time keeping busy and never stop to think, however, you may spend you whole life looking at the deeper meaning, but no one is ever going to tell you when you are right or wrong, and you miss opportunities to enjoy your life. I think that a lot can be learned from ‘doing’. Meeting people with different opinions and experiences can not be achevied whilst sitting in front of your computer, at least not if you want to really understand them.
I think there there are a lot of people who enjoy life and dont seek happiness from the media but have a better sense of what they enjoy doing and theyre own view of reality. These people may come under your heading of “alive” without thinking of themselves as better than others who do not. The ability to get on well with others, do what you know you enjoy and have a good time while you have the opportunity to do so, in my opinion is more important than spending too much of your life thinking about the deeper meaning of everyting. This obviously has a place in out lives considering the amount of unanswered questions, but if you do not make the effort to enjoy your life then what is the point? We cannot know what will happen after we die so surely it is better to attempt to enjoy it where you can?
You say ‘generic happiness’ but maybe people think more about what makes them happy and what brings meaning to their life than they admit, or talk about (or publish on the internet). Many people have busy lives which spare little time to look back and learn, and i feel sorry for people in this position, however this may just be because they are trying to support their family, and because they put thoughts about the people they love before philosophy.
Looking down on people who find enjoyment in things like getting drunk and socializing, is jumping to conclusions about what those people think of the world around them. These are often good people who enjoy they’re lives and help others to do the same without dwelling too much on things that, in truth, we will never understand.
I hope I have explained my view clearly or maybe i just got carried away. I realise that my grammar is bad, but it is unimportant here.
“generally speaking, when your lips are moving, you are not learning anything”