Some answers to 'Life, Universe and Everything'....
"Forty-two!" yelled Loonquawl. "Is that all you've got to show for seven and a half million years' work?"
"I checked it very thoroughly," said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is."
Ever wonder exactly what you wanted in life? What you want out of life? Success is just so vague… I was talking to my friend, Vivek when he suddenly asked me that. I said “Love” instinctively but I’m not sure. Hell, love isn’t any less vague than success. I love my mom, I love my brothers and sister, I love my friends and I even love Physics, Math and books but I don’t think there’s anyone I’m “in love” with… If that’s what I was referring to, I would be surprised because that’s quite cliché – Ally Mcbealish almost. There are lots of things wrong with this ideal of “true love”. First is, does it exist…? Are there people out there who love one another –heart, body and soul, loving each other passionately in a way I can’t even describe because I haven’t experienced it? Are the stories in Georgette Heyer’s and Baroness Orczy’s novels anywhere close to real? (Most of the time I’m thinking, who am I kidding- of course not! But the romantic in me wins sometimes and I end up dreaming of Kabir (A Suitable Boy)/ Mr. Darcy(Pride and Prejudice)/Scarlet Pimpernel lifting me off my feet and carrying me off into the sunset…) Or is “true love” a slightly romanticized version of friendship, given a new look by adding physical attraction? Is it easy to find either? Do people really obsess over it as much as American sitcoms depict them as doing?
I know success for me isn’t about the money (which is basically success in the conventional sense). We’ve always lived happily; lavishly even with what my mom and dad say is a moderate income. Fame really is more trouble than its worth. Having recognition could be Success perhaps, but that isn’t the same as ‘fame’. A ‘well-rounded’ life? That never made sense to me. Most people really want only one or the other- monetary/career-based success or love. You’ve just got to get your priorities right.
So if it isn’t love or this weird and vague ‘success’ thing what really do we want in life…? I’m going to rule out Vivek’s answer here. ‘Moksha’ I don’t think would be a popular choice among the ‘common man’…
Happiness? Yes, that seemed to fit. Except it’s even vaguer than success! What does it mean? To me or to anyone? But I do think it covers it better. I guess to all of life’s “great” (don’t scoff!) questions we’re invariably left with questions that ask us to probe deeper into the self… “Know thyself” as the Pythia would say…
"I checked it very thoroughly," said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is."
Ever wonder exactly what you wanted in life? What you want out of life? Success is just so vague… I was talking to my friend, Vivek when he suddenly asked me that. I said “Love” instinctively but I’m not sure. Hell, love isn’t any less vague than success. I love my mom, I love my brothers and sister, I love my friends and I even love Physics, Math and books but I don’t think there’s anyone I’m “in love” with… If that’s what I was referring to, I would be surprised because that’s quite cliché – Ally Mcbealish almost. There are lots of things wrong with this ideal of “true love”. First is, does it exist…? Are there people out there who love one another –heart, body and soul, loving each other passionately in a way I can’t even describe because I haven’t experienced it? Are the stories in Georgette Heyer’s and Baroness Orczy’s novels anywhere close to real? (Most of the time I’m thinking, who am I kidding- of course not! But the romantic in me wins sometimes and I end up dreaming of Kabir (A Suitable Boy)/ Mr. Darcy(Pride and Prejudice)/Scarlet Pimpernel lifting me off my feet and carrying me off into the sunset…) Or is “true love” a slightly romanticized version of friendship, given a new look by adding physical attraction? Is it easy to find either? Do people really obsess over it as much as American sitcoms depict them as doing?
I know success for me isn’t about the money (which is basically success in the conventional sense). We’ve always lived happily; lavishly even with what my mom and dad say is a moderate income. Fame really is more trouble than its worth. Having recognition could be Success perhaps, but that isn’t the same as ‘fame’. A ‘well-rounded’ life? That never made sense to me. Most people really want only one or the other- monetary/career-based success or love. You’ve just got to get your priorities right.
So if it isn’t love or this weird and vague ‘success’ thing what really do we want in life…? I’m going to rule out Vivek’s answer here. ‘Moksha’ I don’t think would be a popular choice among the ‘common man’…
Happiness? Yes, that seemed to fit. Except it’s even vaguer than success! What does it mean? To me or to anyone? But I do think it covers it better. I guess to all of life’s “great” (don’t scoff!) questions we’re invariably left with questions that ask us to probe deeper into the self… “Know thyself” as the Pythia would say…
posted by Trying to make sense of life.. at 10:25 PM
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