after a very long day at work, I am attempting to philosophize…
we will see how this works…
it has been said that man pursues things… among the things that man/human beings
have pursued is knowledge… the first line in one of Aristotle books is just that…
Man pursues knowledge… so what is the list of things we can pursue?
if we are creatures that pursue things, then what do we pursue…
we can pursue such things that are material or idea’s or values among other things…
The Greeks for example, pursued arête, which is excellence… they pursued
excellence in everything they did… the word arête actually comes from military
excellence, the soldier being an excellent soldier was arête and then after the years passed
the word expanded to any activity where excellence could be found, like creating
drama’s and poetry, which during festivals had contest featuring drama and poetry…
Medieval man pursued god, or said another way, they pursued faith…
but humans aren’t limited to arête or faith as objects of pursuit…
humans can pursue a great many things like a material thing like cars or money
or TV’s… a human can pursue a non-material thing like fame or status…
a human can also pursue something like “vices” which would be drugs, sex, gambling,
as some common “vices”
but we also have “traditional” pursuits likes the pursuit of happiness, love or knowledge
and then you have different pursuits like the pursuit of experiences and the pursuit
of being first or the thrill of victory…
we have many different motivations that drive people and that is what complicates
the idea of, what is the meaning of life? because the meaning of life can be what motivates
one into action and gives meaning to that action…
we can pursue such things as justice, love, truth, values like this can also be
pursued… this is important to understand that we can pursue values like hope,
honor, charity, justice, love, but we only pursue the higher values… for there
is no point to pursue lower values like anger, hate, despair, violence… they
are pointless, empty values that offer us nothing… but the higher values…
they can create meaning, give our life purpose in pursuing those higher values…
like justice, and truth and love… they can create a vision of who we are and what
we need to do…
personally, I am not driven by fame or money or status… I pursue the truth…
finding knowledge, understanding is what is what drives me… I want to know…
so what drives you?
what creates meaning for you?
Kropotkin