There is one question that has been debated by many: what is the good life? In fact, what is good? Good is often associated with objects or events that bring about positive emotions. Since these emotions are invoked by different things for different people, the good life is different for each and every single person. Some believe in material objects that bring about temporary happiness. Perhaps moderation is key, bettering the body and mind better through strict limitations. Even honour may be a factor since the emotions of others can influence their perspective on life.
In reality, these factors can never truly grant anyone long lasting happiness. Every day, at least one dreadful event occurs. These tragedies are unstoppable, yet most people live their life trying to avoid the inevitable. In the absence of these events however, how would anyone know what good is? It is best to let everything happen as it may, regardless of the possible outcomes. Good cannot be perceived without experiencing the opposite, as it makes experiencing the awful worthwhile. Unpleasant lessons teach people to work towards making the pleasant permanent because that in comparison to the temporary good can never be taken away.
In life, many terrible events occur that are predestined and thus unavoidable. However, humans have a tendency to try to avoid potentially harmful events while solely pursuing pleasures. As a result, the mind creates ambiguity between pleasure and tragedy. This confusion disappears when the brain categorizes pain and bliss through events or objects, to experience the feeling of elation again and to avoid agony. However, an overabundance of either leads to dullness of the mind. Therefore, people should live their lives without any restrictions and make the best of the circumstances.
The Essay on Ben Franklin One Life People
Ben Franklin was the definition of the self-made man. He began his career as a simple apprentice for a printer (his brother) following leaving school at the age of 10, but he and his writings went far beyond the shop where he first started. He spent the early years of his life as a printer, moralist, essayist, scientist, inventor, and a philosopher. He later went on to become a civic leader, ...
Experiencing the negative makes people more appreciative of the opposite. Avoidance of atrocious events is futile since such things will happen nevertheless. However, there is one philosopher that disagrees with this thought. The earliest philosopher, Socrates, claims that “no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death”1. He believes that as long as you were morally good, it would be to your benefit because favourable things would also occur. Though it is an excellent code to live by, there is evidence throughout history that proves that it is not always the case.
For example, Terry Fox can be considered a morally good man who ran across Canada with an artificial leg to raise money for cancer research. Even though he was undertaking this selfless deed, he unfortunately died in his quest when cancer had spread to his lungs. If what Socrates claims is true, this evil would have never come upon him. Devastating events will always occur despite what Socrates claims. It is necessary and a part of life to live with the negative instead of constantly avoiding it, as it will be ultimately better in the long run.
Even if the bad is to be anticipated and predestined to happen, many try to replace it with pleasurable things. People are misguided in the fact that it will bring them joy. The feeling of “joy” is a temporary perception that fades away with the consequences that are brought with it. Aristotle claims that people believe happiness lies within “things like pleasure, wealth or honour and often the same man identifies it with different things, with health when he is ill, with wealth when he is poor”.
This is a foolish belief since “pursuing pleasure, wealth, fame and power can have unhappy consequences. ” By this, Aristotle meant that the material goods or “externals”2 only bring about temporary happiness because the external can be eventually taken away. For example, a man is being teased by a friend about his broken down car. To fix this, he buys a fancy sports car with the limited savings he has. Everyone he knows compliments him about his newly acquired car and he feels pleasure for that amount of time.
The Essay on Scarcity Good Or Bad Thing
Scarcity: good or bad thing There are some things constantly following the development of mankind from its very beginning to the present day. Need was the first thing experienced by man. As far as man was developing, he understood that his needs were growing all the time and it became more difficult to satisfy them. One of the main reasons for this was scarcity. Such a phenomenon appeared right ...
However, that sports car can be dented, can break down or be stolen. Not only was the feeling of elation short-lived, he now has to live with his former car that started the whole event in the first place and no savings. All “externals” have a consequence that is tied with it, sometimes undetectable. Karl Marx also believes in a similar theory. He deems that workers who own the fruits of their labour experience feelings of bliss. This however is often seized by capitalist owners who aim to exploit their work. 3 Even working towards happiness has a downside.
Under stoicism, Cicero claimed that it is fame, power, family and other things are indeed preferred over their absences, but it cannot be considered “good”. These externals are not under our control and will ultimately lead towards unhappiness. Cicero further supported this by saying “these supposedly ‘good’ possessions [will] vanish”. 4Returning to the example of the man and the sports car, the car was supposedly something to bring joy and pleasure to the owner however it will vanish eventually leaving the owner with nothing. Anything that will fade away cannot bring about contentment.
Similarly, Buddhism puts an emphasis on four noble truths, the second one being “Desire or craving is the cause of suffering”. The only reason people regard illness or poverty as horrendous are because they desire the complete opposite. They desire to be rich or desire to be perfectly happy thus society associates the opposite with being bad and the cause of our suffering5. Through re-examination of the sports car and the man, the man only bought the car because he was being mocked for his broken down car and thus in his mind he referred to his car as the cause of his suffering.
As a result, he desired to have a fast, beautiful car to stop this teasing. That desire led to his actual downfall because he used all of his savings to purchase said car. Many try to seek out externals in their lifetime like wealth, fame and honour to cover up or extinguish the bad that happens to them. However, they are misguided in their belief that it will permanently be their solution. All externals have a price attached to it and the cycle of attaining temporary happiness, then losing it, is never ending.
The Essay on Happiness: The Key To Life
Hap-pi-ness: the quality or state of being happy. One crucial standard for living is being able to be happy. Happiness can be found in an numerous amount of ways. It can be found by buying inanimate items that help us better our life or it can be found with communicating with someone. To truly reach full happiness you need to recognize that everything in your life if good and accept that you can ...
With both temporary appalling and favourable events happening in life, the only way to attain true lasting happiness is through making the good in our life permanent. Truly permanent in the sense that it cannot be taken away by anyone. All externals have repercussions that make it twist from pleasurable to devastating. However there are few things that have no drawbacks attached. According to Aristotle, the way to achieve permanent happiness is through “contemplative activities (thinking, learning, striving to understand and known) rather than pleasures and other external things”.
6 This is because externals all have drawbacks and can be taken away. An external may be present one day and vanish by the next. Knowledge and reason on the other hand have no such downsides and cannot be as easily taken away. In Stoicism, Cicero also agrees with Aristotle. He says that “in order to live a happy life the only thing we need is moral goodness”. 7 This is because he also believes that wealth, fame, power and other similar things are not durable. That is to say that these things are fickle and can come and go. Cicero believes that the only thing anyone needs is to be morally good because that will always stay constant and under control.
Moral goodness cannot be taken away by anyone and thus it has no consequences and gives lasting happiness. Buddhism also agrees with this to a certain extent. Buddhism emphasizes that desire or craving is the cause of suffering because people want what they cannot have. Thus the belief is that “unsatisfied desire is the primary source of unhappiness”. 8 To achieve permanent happiness then, quelling or controlling desires can help people escape their physical existence and suffering.
By achieving this, no one can take it away from another and will grant lasting bliss. Life throws many temporary bad and good things in ones path but everything has a price. This price can make the “happiness” that one enjoys fade suddenly. However, if one works towards making their happiness permanent by following Aristotle, Cicero or Buddhism, one can achieve long-lasting happiness that no one can take away. The definition of a good life can only be described in one way. People, no matter what, will experience some tragedies.
Pursasive Paper on Why College Gap Years Are a Good Thing
Another reason gap years are a good thing is that is enforces responsibility. When a student wants to undergo a gap year there are a lot of steps and processes that need to be made. Some might say that this might just overwhelm the student anyways, but it will not. It helps the students understand the responsibilities to have this goal of their pursued. Gap years, like stated before, are not just ...
These tragedies are not always a bad thing since they shape people to be who they are today. These events, although horrible in nature, have a positive outcome. They allow the recipient to experience horror so that pleasure is much greater. Terrible events will always occur in life and many try to prevent this by pursuing externals such as wealth and power. This is where they are mistaken because all pleasures have some sort of consequence that is unavoidable. Socrates believes that a morally good man is invincible although through history, we can see that is not always the case.
However, Aristotle, Cicero and Buddhist beliefs are correct in believing that the temporary good, or pleasures, have too many unruly side effects to bring true happiness. That can only come from what cannot be taken away: reason and control. With reason, it can never be taken away from the owner. With control, it allows the user to quell their desires and escape suffering to achieve peace and tranquility. When contemplating the good life, one must allow the temporary bad as well as good to happen and work towards filling their life with permanent good. That is the only way to bring happiness to life.
